


My Savior

by Thedeadwalks



Category: Negan - Fandom, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Age Play, Age Regression, Apocalypse, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, DDLG, Daddy Kink, Daddy!Negan, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Negan Being Negan (Walking Dead), Older Man/Younger Woman, Possessive Negan (Walking Dead), Pre-Zombie Apocalypse, Protective Negan, Sexual Tension, Sexy Negan (Walking Dead), Smut, Sugar Daddy, Violence, Walkers (Walking Dead), Zombies, dd/lg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-05-02 16:52:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 29
Words: 30,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14549130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thedeadwalks/pseuds/Thedeadwalks
Summary: Awoken one morning to noises outside, the reader pushes Negan to take a look. Reluctantly he does, only to find it’s not what he expected…





	1. Waking Up (Part I)

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me and my fanfics over on @thedeadwalks on tumblr!

_**THUMP…** _

_**THUMP…** _

_**THUMP…** _

_**THUMP…** _

A vague, quiet sound awoke you from your sleep. Rolling over to your side, you snuggled your nose into the sinewy, tattooed arm that was currently wrapped around you. You smiled to yourself as you breathed in his scent, still not quite believing he was yours. Or that you were his. Yawning softly you nuzzled your nose further down into the soft grey blankets. The fact that you were still half-asleep combined with the newly added warmth caused you to instantly forget about what had awakened you not seconds ago. You were asleep again in mere seconds.

**_THUMP…_ **

**_THUMP…_ **

Eyes wide open, you sat up quickly. Looking around the small room, everything looked like it had just the night before. Except now the early morning sun was shining through the thin curtains, casting a yellowy glow throughout the room. Looking down, you studied the sleeping man laying next to you, quietly snoring - not a care in the world. The noise couldn’t have been him. _Must be imagining things again_ , you thought to yourself. Laying back down, head landing on the pillow harshly, you lay awake, eyes straining against the sunlight, waiting for the noise.

**_THUMP…_ **

**_THUMP…_ **

Springing up quickly, pulling the blanket off and getting to your knees, you leaned over. Shaking his shoulder, you prayed he would wake up.

“Daddy…”

No response. Not even a murmur. The man could sleep through the damn apocalypse. Trying again you shook his shoulder, slightly harder this time, but hopefully enough to wake him. Just as you were about to give up, another thump came from downstairs. _For the love of god wake up._

“Daddy, please. Please wake up” you tried again. Shaking him harder now. “Negan!”

Making no effort to physically move, Negan groaned, blinking. And then his deep and sleep-hued voice sounded through the silent room, “hmm, what is it princess?”

“There’s something outside”, you whispered back hurriedly. “Daddy there’s something there, I heard it, it’s banging, can’t you hear it, Daddy please go loo-“

Cutting off your panicked explanation, Negan reached for you, roughly pulling you down onto his naked chest. Stroking through your hair in an attempt to calm you, he spoke again, “Shh princess, don’t be scared alright. Just a nightmare, that’s all. Nothing to be scared of”.

Pushing yourself up to look him in the eye, hands steadying yourself on his chest, you tried, again, to tell him about the noise.

_**THUMP…** _

_**THUMP… THUMP… THUMP…** _

“What the shit was that?”

Slapping at his shoulder you groaned in frustration, “that’s the noise I was talking about, idiot!”

With some loud groaning, a joint or two clicking, and a few swear words thrown in, Negan got out of the safety of the bed. Pulling the blanket around yourself, now very aware of your bare legs as the cold air hit them, you watched as Negan went over to the window, clad in just his black boxers, stretching as he walked. The view alone was enough to distract you from the situation, even for just a second, as Negan pulled back the end of the light grey curtain slightly to look out.

“ _Holy shit, babe”_


	2. The Window

At the sound of Negan’s voice you instantly froze up. Something was wrong. Definitely wrong. You could hear it in his voice – could see it in the way his lazy stance suddenly became stiff. _You should have woken him up the first time you heard the noise stupid, then maybe whoever it is wouldn’t have—_

“Daddy?…” You asked in almost a whisper, “wha-what’s there?” Getting up from the bed, you shivered, pulling the sheets firmer around your t-shirt-clad shoulders. Looking over to where Negan was still standing, you shifted from foot to foot, painted toes wiggling in the soft plush rug underneath, hesitant to find out just what was making the noise. And more frighteningly, what had made Negan so… still.

As if on cue he spoke then, his voice clear-cut and direct – the tiredness from just a few moments ago gone.

“Just stay where you are princess yeah? Just, just—“

“Tell me what’s happening? Please?”

Silence. Until, after what felt like an hour, Negan finally moved. Lifting one arm up to his face he rubbed at his tired eyes, then scratched at the growing grey hair on his jaw, sighing out.

“Look, darling I… I don’t know how to, fuck.” He turned around then, letting the curtain fall softly back into place. Leaning his tall frame back against the window, with both hands gripping at the frame for support, knuckles beginning to turn white, and his head down to the floor. You knew right then that whatever was outside was way, way beyond what you had thought. In the time that you had known Negan you had never seen him like he was now - speechless and scared. The man who looked after you, who people looked up to, who would make the most inappropriate jokes at the most inappropriate moments, was stood in front of you, scared out of his wits. And that scared you even more. “C-can you sit down for a sec, doll?”

Keeping the blanket wrapped tight around you, you sat back down on the edge of the bed. There was silence in the room, and a growing tension – like the kind you get when something horrible is about to happen. You just didn’t know what. Why he was trying to hide whatever it was from you. And your stomach was in knots.

“Daddy?” Was all you could manage to get out. Negan looked up at you then. His face was paler than usual. Lines of worry were scratched into his forehead. His brown eyes studied you for a moment, searching your face for something before his thick dark brows knitted together, and he let out a deep breath.

“I need you to do something for me.” He took another deep breath. And another. “I need you, to stay here. Alright? Just stay here in bed for a second whilst I go downstairs baby, can you do that?”

Reluctantly, you nodded. He came towards you then, crouching down in front of where you sat, almost eye-level with you. Tattooed forearms resting on top of your bare knees.

“Princess, you promise me, that when Daddy goes downstairs you are not and will not look out that window.”

Your eyes flickered over to the drawn curtains. Brain going a mile a minute trying to work out what could possibly be that bad that he couldn’t just tell you.

“Princess?”

Immediately your head snapped back to the man in front of you, and you nodded. You knew there was no arguing. _Not when he uses that voice._ Rubbing his hand through his scruff again, Negan sighed, his head dropping for a moment before he looked back up at you, his hand moving to squeeze at your knee.

“I’m gonna need to hear that shit out loud darling”

You nodded again, of course he did. “Yes Daddy. Won’t move.”

You thought you saw the slightest hint of a grin spread across his face then, only for the smallest of moments, before he got to his feet. Taking your jaw in his hands and kissing your forehead lightly, he replied.

“Good girl. And I want you to shout if you need me alright babe, I’m only downstairs”

“Okay”

You watched silently as he moved over to one of the cupboards across from you. Reaching to take the wooden item down off the top, he gave it a quick practice swing before looking back to where you were. Walking back across the room, pointing the end of what was now a weapon towards you, he repeated his earlier warning, only this time it was anything but a question.

“Do not, fucking, move”

Nodding your head so hard you feared it might fall off, you watched him nod in acceptance, before he walked out the door. Closing it gently behind him. You heard him going slowly down the stairs, and then… nothing.

_**THUMP…** _

**_THUMP…_ **

Immediately your head spun to the window. It was that noise again. But this time it sounded different though, not quite as.. close? _What’s out there?_ The answer to that question of course seemed to be just behind the curtains. _Maybe I should just take a peek?_

You sat there, on the edge of the bed. Staring at the closed grey curtains for what felt like an eternity. _Just one peek. He doesn’t have to know we looked. He won’t know if we don’t tell him. But we’d be breaking the rules…_

That was it. Your mind was already made up as you looked down to the floor, trying your best to ignore every inch of you that wanted to go and look. Moving to the centre of the bed, bringing your knees up to your chest, and pulling the blanket as tight as you could around you, you shook your head. One thought repeating itself over and over in your mind in an attempt to not look out the window.

_Daddy wouldn’t like that._


	3. Unwelcome Visitors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided I wanted to keep each chapter to around a 900-1,500 words. I know it’s shorter than most fanfic word counts but it’s easier for me, and I think it suits the story and my writing a lot more. (I don’t want to drag scenes out just to fill a 2k word count)

You sat there for what felt like an eternity. Wrapped in the blanket, knees up to your chest and your hands over your ears. Waiting. But what you were waiting for, you still didn’t know exactly.

Then you heard the front door open, banging loudly as it hit the hallway wall, followed by the vague sound of Negan’s voice. What sounded like angry shouting, was followed by deep grunts and… _groaning?_ Only a few seconds had passed before whoever was outside the door was met with the full brunt of Negan’s anger. If it was a different situation you may have even felt sorry for them, you knew how he got when he lost his temper, you had seen it first-hand before. That night where you had both gone out, and on the walk back to the car some drunks had tried to get a little bit too friendly with you for Negan’s liking – _“gotta protect my baby”_ he’d said to you on the drive home, knuckles bloody as he gripped the steering wheel.

_It’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be fine. Whatever it is he can handle it. Daddy can handle it. We just need to stay here._

So that’s what you did. Because that’s what he had told you to do. Just stay on the bed and don’t move. Looking over to the alarm clock you sighed, **04:09** written across the screen in red numbers. _Nine minutes past_.

The sound of the door slamming shut brought you out of your thoughts. There was some kind of movement downstairs. And then it was silent. An eerie, spine-chilling silence that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Moving your hands back to the blanket, you held onto it tightly, the panic starting to set in, you looked over to the bedroom door. _Maybe we should go down? Are you serious? You don’t know who was there, you don’t know what just happened idiot! There could be a murderer down there! Just shut up and let him handle it. You go down there and you’ll just be in the way._ So, putting your head down onto the your knees, and the blanket further around you, you waited.

It felt like hours. Sitting there waiting with absolute silence throughout the entire house. Whatever had been making the thumping against the door had gone.

 _Or it was inside_.

Trying to shake _that_ thought quickly away, you glanced back over to the clock. **04:14.** It had been roughly five minutes without any noise, banging, shouting, anything at all. Something’s wrong. As your mind started going around each and every possible outcome of what could have just happened downstairs, and of why it was so damn quiet now, your hands were shaking again. Fear taking over your whole body as you felt like you were stuck to the bed, like the room was shrinking in—

Bringing you crashing back to reality, your head spun straight back to the door as you heard something. A soft creak had finally broken the unearthly silence of the house. _The stairs. Finally. He’s coming back._ Jumping up from the bed you practically ran over to the closed door, a feeling rushing through you which you couldn’t quite explain. _Unless it’s not him._ Your hand froze just above the handle. _What if it’s not him? What if they got him and now they’re coming for me? What if—_

Without even debating it, your hand reached out to press the lock on the door. Panic kicking in again, you looked around the room, looking for somewhere to hide. _You can’t get under the bed idiot, that’s the first place a murderer will look_. Running over to the wardrobe you opened the door, praying it wouldn’t creak and give away your hiding spot. Pushing the clothes to the side, you climbed in, pulling the door shut behind you. _Great thinking. The second most obvious hiding place._

Mentally telling yourself to shut up, you looked around in the small dark space. _Should’ve got a weapon **before** you got in, stupid. If they find us now we’re over. What are we gonna do, throw a jumper at them?_ Picking up a spare hanger from the floor, you wrapped your hand around the wire, _better a crappy old hanger than no weapon at all, right?_

Your knees were shaking, breathing heavy, hands sweating. Trying your best to look out of the thin slit in between the doors, you waited. Waited for whoever it was that was coming up the stairs. _What’s taking them so long?_

Another quiet creak sounded, and whoever, or whatever, it was, was now on the landing. Trying your best to control and quieten your breathing, your fingers latched even tighter onto your makeshift weapon. Trying your hardest to convince yourself that you were ready to attack whatever was about to come through the door.

A few seconds passed with no sound. Then you saw the door handle move, the noise of it being pressed downwards sounding through the room. When it didn’t open, they tried again. Then the silence was back. _Maybe they gave up? Maybe they’re going._

After nearly a minute, when you thought your heart was going to burst out of your chest, and your knees were almost buckling from shaking, a deep, almost too-calm voice spoke from the landing.

_“Can you open the door, baby?”_

 


	4. The Truth

Letting out the breath you had been holding in, you pushed open the wardrobe doors almost immediately, clumsily climbing out of the wardrobe. Running across the room to the door, nearly tripping over the ends of the blanket that was wrapped around you in the process, as soon as your hand reached out to press unlock you froze, hand in mid-air. _What if it’s not him? Of course it is, you just heard his voice idiot! Yeah but remember that movie where the aliens—_

 _“Princess, you there?”_ Came the all-too familiar voice again, “ _Open up doll, it’s just me, promise”_

Mentally scolding yourself for being so paranoid, you pressed the button, removing the safety of the door. Taking a step back for him to come in, your hand clenched around the wire hanger you were still holding, _just in case._

You watched, once again, as the handle was pushed down – only this time it was met with no resistance. The door opened, just an inch or two, and then.. stopped. After a second he spoke, still hidden behind the solid door.

“Darling, I— I don’t—, shit”, you heard him try to take a deep breath, but it sounded shaky, and you knew something had happened down there. Something bad. “Look, doll, I’m— I’m gonna come in, and— and I’ve got something to tell you, and— and look it’s gonna be, well it’s gonna be fucking crazy, but I don’t want you to be scared of me, okay? I won’t hurt you. You _— you_ _know I wont._.”

Pulling the blanket up back around your neck you clutched onto it with your spare hand, bracing yourself even though you didn’t know what for. You spoke, although it sounded so calm you didn’t really believe it was your voice you heard, “yeah. Yeah, okay.”

“Alright, right, I’m gonna come in now, darling, and I need you to stay calm for me, alright?”

The door opened then. And nothing in your entire life could have prepared you for the sight in front of you.

Your whole body froze where you stood, eyebrows knitting together slightly in confusion, and heart racing faster in a mixture of fear and panic. You looked at the man still stood in the doorway, feeling light-headed as you took in the state of him, of whatever was hanging from the object held tightly in his hand. Then the room started to spin. Your whole body suddenly felt warm. And then _the_ _smell_ hit you. And as your eyes rolled back into your head, the next thing you saw was black.

\- - -

Slowly, your eyes opened, blinking at the bright light of the room. There was a pounding in your head, and you felt weak all over. Turning slowly to the side you could see that you were still in your bedroom, _what happened?_

Your head whipped around as you felt the bed dip on the other side of you. You gasped, attempting to move away from the culprit, but his hand pressed lightly on your shoulder, pushing you softly back down and keeping you where you were. His hand slid gently down your arm, and stopped at your wrist, rough fingertips rubbing soothing circles into your skin, watching as he did so. He didn’t look up, but simply continued the comforting motions as he spoke softly.

“I must look like a goddamn mess huh, doll?”

He looked up at you then. And you couldn’t tear your eyes away from him. From the _state_ of him. His hair was a mess, sticking up in all places with a few curls hanging down over his forehead. His skin looked slick with sweat, and something was smeared across his cheek. Then it hit you, _blood._ “Negan! Negan you’re bleeding” you practically shouted at him, scrambling to sit up, forgetting all about your lapse in consciousness just a minute ago. His hand that held your wrist moved to wrap around your hand, as he brought it up to his mouth and kissed it softly.

“Baby, I’m fine”, he breathed out, but in your current state of panic you didn’t hear him. And as your eyes began darting all over his still nearly-naked body to check for wounds, you realised he was practically covered in splashes and smears of reds and browns. Your mouth opened to speak, to make sure he was okay, but nothing came out. Your breathing was getting faster by the second.

“Hey, baby”, he looked at you know, deep brown eyes bearing into yours, his face only inches from yours. “I’m fine. Yeah? Daddy’s fine, alright? I—”

“Are you hurt?” You interrupted in a worried voice. “What happened down there? Who was there? Who—“

He pulled you towards him then, pressing your head against his chest, one hand smoothing your head and the other wrapping around your back. He kissed the top of your hair, lingering there for a moment before he pulled back slightly, still keeping you against him. Stroking your hair again, he spoke.

“Darling, I don’t know how to say this. Fuck I’ve been thinking of ways to tell you since… well, since earlier. And I guess, well, I guess there’s no _good_ way to say it is there? So I’m just gonna tell you the truth, alright? You okay with that baby?”

You nodded against him, already feeling your eyes watering. Whatever he was about to say, whatever it was, you knew it wasn’t good. _He’s_ _covered in blood for god’s sake. Of course it’s not good._ So, gathering up some courage that you didn’t know you had in you, in an almost whisper, you asked the question you had been dreading since you had first woken up, “who was downstairs, Daddy?”

You were met with silence for a few seconds. Another kiss was pressed to your forehead, and then he took in a deep breath.

“There was a man. At the door. He—“

“What did you do to him?” You looked up at him from his chest, feeling the bloody smears rubbing onto your skin from where you were being held against him.

“Baby”, he swallowed, and suddenly you could tell he was nervous about something. Really nervous.  _Oh god. He couldn’t. Could he? Would he?_

Not sure if you even wanted to hear the answer to the question you were about to ask, and even though a part of you already knew, your voice nearly broke as you asked a question which seemed worse than the previous one, “you— you killed him, didn’t you? The man… you…”

His face paled then, and you felt his body suddenly become stiff. And as he looked down at you, for the first time since you had known him, there were tears brimming in his bloodshot eyes.

_“Princess, he was already dead”_

 


	5. Breaking Down

Neither of you moved. You were staring at him, and he was watching your reaction. Not knowing if you would freak out, scream, or even faint again like you had earlier.

_Already dead. What the hell does that mean? How can that— that’s not even possible. Is it? I mean the blood had to come from something. Maybe he’s lying to cover it up?_

You wanted to ask, ask anything that could make it clearer what had gone on downstairs, but you couldn’t. Your mouth opened, but you couldn’t get any sound out. Instead your eyes started searching his face, looking for some kind of answer. Some kind of sign that he was lying, that this was just a big joke. But you came up with nothing. His face was utterly serious – mouth fixed in a line and eyes shiny like glass. After a few minutes of silence, of just the two of you holding onto each other, watching the other for some kind of reaction, he spoke, almost a whisper.

“Princess”, he pulled back then, taking your hand in his again, the other still smoothing your back, “I know it sounds crazy, but you have to believe me, okay?”

You still couldn’t find your voice, so you continued to watch him, waiting for something to make sense.

“That man, he— baby he was dead before I even opened the door. _Fuck, he—“_

Negan broke then. Tears fell down his cheeks silently, smearing through the smudges of blood on his face. He pulled you even closer to him, now sat haphazardly in his lap, as his arms wrapped around you, pulling you impossibly closer to him. You felt his nose nuzzling into your hair, alongside the tears that were still falling. You wrapped your arms around him now in turn, nuzzling your face into his chest, not caring anymore about the sticky patches.

“We’re gonna be okay, alright? I’m gonna keep you safe and, I know, that you know that. Don’t you?” You nodded against him, still feeling like you were in a dream. You felt a kiss pressed to your forehead as he breathed you in, “I don’t want you scared. And I know— fuck, of course you are, fuck baby I’m fucking scared too but you, you have nothing to worry about, princess… We’re gonna be fine”.

You were nodding again, feeling your own tears falling against him now. Pulling back a little, and moving to wipe at your cheeks, you looked up at him. Sniffing, you nodded at him again, still not sure if you could find your voice.

He grinned then, the cocky, self-assured grin that you were used to seeing. And some part of you knew it was going to be fine. _Of course it will be. He’s always right. Well, usually right._ You watched as he wiped at his sticky cheeks with the back of his hand, there was something in his eyes now that wasn’t there just minutes before. A sparkling that made you feel instantly better, just the two of you against whatever was happening out there.

“I’ve been thinking, and the way I see it we got two options here sugar, alright? And this is completely up to you, whatever you wanna do, it’s your call.” You watched in confusion as he pulled away from you to stand, walked over to the window where this all started less than an hour ago, and pulled up the edge of the curtain only slightly – trying not to draw any attention from the world outside. After a few seconds of looking, he turned around then, letting the curtain fall gently back into place.

“Look, it’s still early, so there’s only a few of those… fuckers out there. So, option one, we pack our bags, get as much shit as we can in the car, and we leave. Fuck knows where to. But we get the fuck out of here.” He paused then, leaning back against the window frame, sighing heavily, “and look, princess, I can’t promise that if we get where we’re going there’s not gonna be more of these fucking things. They could be all over the fucking place for all we know.”

He stopped then, his hands coming up to rub down his face, and you could see how tired he was from where you were still sat on the bed. Finally finding your voice, you spoke, “what’s the other option?”

He looked back over to you then, and his face held a hint of the grin that you had seen just moments ago.

“Option number two darling, is we stay put. We lock the doors, close the curtains, shit there’s shit in the garage we could use to board up the windows”, he came over to you now, still speaking as he walked, hands animating his words. “We make this place a fucking safe haven for us both. Nothing gets in, we make sure of it. And we wait it out. Just Daddy and Baby, waiting it out, just the two of us. There’s enough food downstairs we can ration ourselves, shit maybe this fucking thing will all fly over in a few days anyway”. He was in front of you now, crouched down to eye-level with you, hands holding your knees. “So what do you say huh? What’s it gonna be, pumpkin?”

It took you less than a second for your mind to be made up. And you moved your hands over his as you answered, your voice sounding the most confident it had since you had woken up this morning.

_“I want to stay here”_

 


	6. Boarding Up

Upon hearing your choice his face changed instantly. His mouth breaking into a grin, eyes sparkling, and you thought he looked, well, _too_ damn happy for the situation you found yourselves in. Turning his hands over, and lacing his fingers with yours, he pulled you up as he stood. As soon as you were standing, his hands gripped around your waist, and the next thing you knew you were stood on top of the bed, his hands keeping a firm grip on your hips to steady you. You were taller than him now, and he took a step back, looking up at you slightly.

“ _First things first, we need some fucking ground rules here_ ”, he spoke more confidently now, and you could hear the authority in his voice. “Number one, you do _not_ , _and I repeat, do not,_ leave this house without me. Understood?”

Nodding at him from where you were balancing on the bed, he came right in front of you, hand cupped around his ear, waiting…

“Yes, Daddy.” Happy with your answer he pulled back then, going back to his monologue, hands accentuating his words.

“Rule number two, you get hurt, you get scared, hell, if you wanna change your mind and take a freaky-ass road trip instead, you tell me, straight away darling, understood?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Rule number three, and this is a _big_ rule to follow, _but follow it, you most certainly fucking will_. If I tell you to do something, if I tell you _not_ to do something, hell I expect you to follow that order. And _that_ , that is not optional. Understood?”

You replied once more, and he nodded back at you in approval. He was stood in front of you now, his head reaching to just under your chin, so close you you could feel his breath on your neck. His face turned serious, eyes fixed onto yours as his hands wrapped around your thighs, the rough skin of his palms tickling you. Moving your hands behind your back, you shifted on each foot, suddenly all too aware of both yours, and his, lack of clothing. You could feel your cheeks growing pink as his hands continued their way up your thighs, his t-shirt that you were wearing now bunching at his wrists. His hands tightened at the very tops of your thighs as he picked you up, wrapping your legs around his waist, one arm under you for support. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you couldn’t help the giggles you made as you buried your face in his shoulder. You were clutching onto him, and you could feel his lips press against your hair once more as he whispered softly.

“Such a good girl for me”

Turning you both around he carried you over to the wardrobe. Placing you gently onto your feet next to him he opened the doors, pulling out one of his thick jumpers and a pair of your jeans he handed them both to you.

“Put these on baby alright, don’t know how long the heat’s gonna last in here. Don’t want you freezing up on me.”

Putting them on, and seeing he was putting his own jeans on next to you, you watched as he reached up, pulling out the spare blankets from the top shelf. He turned to you then, holding a bunch of old duvet covers, sheets, and blankets in his arms. Passing them over to you, he spoke.

“Right, got a job for you darling, you ready?” You replied yes, taking hold of the sheets, and wondering what they could possibly be for. “C’mon then”

He turned then, walking out the door, knowing you would follow him, calling back to you as he went.

“ _Step number one_ is we secure this place up. I’m gonna board the windows up, put some shit from the garage in front of them so nothing gets in, then _your_ little ass is gonna cover them up with the sheets alright?”

“Yup, daddy. Got it” you said confidently. Turning his body back to you slightly, he looked you over, then turned back to the task at hand, starting down the stairs, with you in tow.

\- -

You were sat on the arm-chair downstairs, the last of the bundle of sheets draped across your lap, watching quietly as Negan finished boarding up the last of the windows. He had found a few planks of wood in the garage, which were now nailed across the windows, with a few across the doors. You had draped your sheets over them once he had finished, blocking any remaining light out, and giving you that extra level of security. Finished with his task he turned then, walking to the couch and practically falling onto it, long legs spread across the plush pillows.

You sprang up, moving the chair you had been using to the front of the window. Stepping up you pulled the thick curtains together, then reached up to drape your last sheet across the rail, the room suddenly darkening even more as you did so. Fixing the edges to prevent it from falling you jumped down and took a step back, smiling at your work.

Turning, you could only just make out where the long lean figure was still laying on the couch, and taking soft, quiet steps towards him, you jumped suddenly, landing partly on him. He turned onto his side then, jamming you between his side and the back of the couch. Wrapping your arms around him as a burst of giggles erupted from you, you nuzzled your head into his neck. Feeling his hand smoothing through your hair, and his body relaxing, his deep voice rumbled through the quiet, dark room.

“Yeah, we’re gonna be just fine darling. _I fucking promise you that”_

 


	7. Stay Indoors

**“… _and if you are one of the lucky ones watching this broadcast, then please, for your own safety do not go outdoors. Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbours, do whatever you can to keep loved ones safe, but under no circumstances should you leave your home—“_**

**_“… officials are saying the cause of the infection is down to the recent studies in medicine. Of course, how wide-spread and serious these effects are, is uncertain at the moment—“_ **

**_“… scientists are saying that the virus is, most likely, spread by the infected persons bodily fluids contaminating a healthy body—“_ **

**_“… what we do know is that this began early hours of this morning, and that anyone who was in contact with the source will most likely have been the first ones to be—“_ **

The screen went black then. Being replaced just a second later with grey and white static, the noise humming loudly through the room. You were both on the couch, Negan sat in the middle with you curled up next to him, your legs splayed across his lap. Not long after you’d both finished boarding the place up he had turned the television on, hoping it might give you some kind of knowledge on the situation. But flipping through the channels, every broadcaster on every news programme said the same thing, and what you knew now wasn’t much more than what you knew before. You knew that it was a virus, some kind of scientific research experiment gone wrong, it was thought to be spread through fluids, and that you had most _definitely_ made the right choice by staying indoors. No-one could give any clear answers, any clear reasoning as to when this would end, if they knew of a cure, or what to do in the meantime, and you realised after the third panic-stricken newsreader had braced the screen, giving a strikingly similar speech to the previous one, that it was because they simply _didn’t_ _know._

“ _Fuuuuuck_ ”. Negan practically groaned out from next to you. His head was laid on the back of the couch now, eyes scrunched closed, the black tv remote hanging limply from his hand on his lap. “Fucking tv has gone out now. _Course it has_ , none of those fuckers know what this shit show is about anyway, fucking fuckers make this shit then can’t solve it when they fuck it up… _fuck_ ”

His hand left the remote, reaching up to grip the bridge of his nose, as he sighed in a mixture of frustration and exhaustion. You watched him quietly, not knowing exactly what to say to him, mainly because you didn’t really understand what was happening yourself. So instead of words you hugged yourself in closer to him, your head resting against his shoulder, moving your hand over his stomach you smoothed your fingertips through the soft hairs there. After a few minutes he spoke again, his voice much calmer than it had been just a moment ago.

“Baby, where’s your phone?”

“Upstairs, it was on charge last night and—“

“Can you go get it? We can see if there’s anything online. The internet might sill be working, phone connections and shit, maybe it’s just the tv signal that’s cut out”

\- - 

Walking around the couch, phone now in hand, you could see Negan hadn’t moved since you had gone upstairs. His head laid on the back of the couch, forearm covering his eyes, and if you didn’t know any better you would have guessed he was asleep. Sitting gently back in your spot next to him you tapped your nails on the screen, waiting impatiently for it to come on. Leaning your side against the back of the couch, you looked Negan over. Long, jean-clad legs were stretched out in front of him, small, dark red spots still clinging to bits of his torso. 

You were pulled away from the thought of _just how he had gotten those spots_ by the bright light coming from your phone screen. Your fingers tapped away, trying Facebook, Twitter, instagram, every app you had, but nothing was connecting. No internet signal at all. You tried to phone someone, resorting to trying random people in your contact list, but with no avail. Even the emergency numbers weren’t connecting. Every one of the texts you tried to send failed, the undelivered warning showing up almost instantly.

That’s when it hit you. The reality of what was happening. You were cut off from the rest of the world. Not only were you now both utterly unaware of what was happening outside, but you had no way of finding out any updates of the situation either. For the foreseeable future you were both stuck. Stuck in the house, completely cut off from the nightmare outside. Worry began setting in then, you could feel your chest starting to tighten, your throat going thick. Your hands began to shake slightly, and the sickening feeling of being trapped began to wash over you.

Then, for the first time since you had gone to get your phone, Negan moved. His arm coming down to rest on his thigh, head rolling to the side to look at you. His tongue swiping across his lip, before a cocky, almost sinful grin spread across his scruffy, yet handsome face. His eyes sparkling as his deep voice drawled out.

_“You fancy an early night, dollface?”_


	8. Lazy Afternoon

“How about we watch something good next, huh?”

“Daddy this _is_ good, and you know it.”

“Hm, I just don’t understand, why… _right_ , so say I’m a vampire right? Last thing I’m gonna wanna do for the rest of my life is go back to fucking high school. I mean going there now is bad enough and I get paid to do that shit”

Telling him to stop complaining, for what felt like the millionth time that evening, you couldn’t help the laughter that came from you.

“I mean he’s fucking sparkling, _sparkling_. You need to see some real shit like The Lost Boys or something babe, not this lame ass excuse for a vampire.”

You had zoned out now, completely ignoring his critique from where he sat on the floor in front of you. You were laying on your stomach, elbows just before the edge of the bed, hands holding a half-full ice cream tub and a spoon. You were still wearing only his t-shirt and the pair of panties you had woken up in this morning, while he had changed into a new pair of boxers. After he had taken a wash earlier, and made a quick and small dinner for you both (while rationing the food of course), you had both decided that his earlier suggestion of a movie marathon seemed like the best thing to do, _hell, it’s one of the only things we can do._ You had watched a handful of movies since the decision was made, and now you were feeding him spoonfuls of ice cream in between his terrible commentary.

“Tom Cruise was a better vampire than this guy”, was his latest critique, his hand waving at the screen as he spoke. “This has got to be the worst movie you’ve chosen so far babe, I mean even the evil vampires are shit vampires.”

His comments lasted for the entirety of the movie, making you giggle more and more with each one. He was doing a decent job at distracting you from thinking about it, from thinking about the world outside, of those _people_ that were out there. You had heard nothing since the tv signal went out earlier this afternoon, and whether you were thankful for that you didn’t quite know. Negan on the other hand seemed to not have a care in the world anymore. Looking him over now, you could have sworn it was just a regular Monday evening, nothing out of the ordinary. And for that you were thankful. _At least one of us isn’t a nervous wreck._

The movie began ending then, the scene of the happy couple slow dancing fading ever so gently to a black screen.

_“My turn!”_

He sprang to life then, as soon as he saw the small white words begin rolling up the screen. Jumping up from where he was sat, almost too quickly for a man his age, he went over to the dvds. After he scanned the shelving for a minute or so, he picked out two cases. Turning back to you, he held both of them up, one in each hand, a cheeky grin on his face. “And ‘cause I’m such a nice fucking guy, I’ll even let you pick, sugar”

You looked at him, at the two horror movies he was holding up towards you, your face falling when you saw that these were your two options. Shaun of the Dead in one hand, Dawn of the Dead in the other. _He has got to be kidding me._

“Aren’t those a little… inappropriate?”

“Fuck no, we gotta take control of our situation baby, we may as well get a few tips while we’re stuck here, can’t just fuck and eat ice cream until we get out there and—”

“But, but can you pick something else please? I don’t want to think a-about those, _those things…_ ” your words trailed off as you started to get flustered again. Thinking back to what happened in the early hours of this morning was the last thing you wanted to do – _seeing_ those things on the screen would be even worse. His face changed to something unsure then, instantly getting more serious in response to your reaction. Turning back around he put both back into their slots.

“Guess you make a good point, sweetheart” he drawled out, eyes scanning the shelves again in search of something a little more light-hearted and comforting. Pulling out a case, he was smiling softly as he walked back over, placing the disk into the machine. He turned then, walking over to the bed behind where you were still laying, and practically flopping down onto the top of it, sighing loudly. His feet coming down next to your waist as he spread himself out, head comfortably on top the mass of plush pillows. You were about to ask what he had chosen, to make sure it wasn’t a horror movie, when a famous animated castle graced the screen and he drawled out, his accent impossibly thick as he did so - hand smoothing over your ankle softly as his other went up behind his head.

_“Come and give Daddy a cuddle, little princess”_

 


	9. Snuggle Time

Blinking your eyes open as your head lifted lazily from the warm pillow, you looked around, confused for a moment as to why it was so… _dark_. Then it hit you, the memories from yesterday flooding back into your mind. From how you had been awoken by a mysterious banging, the cause of which was now dead, followed by vague news reports of a viral outbreak before you had both boarded up the house. Your hazy eyes went to the window, now covered with old blankets as well as the curtains, and you sighed heavily as your head dropped back down, your hair spreading across the pillow as you did so. _I guess it wasn’t just some nightmare huh? It really did happen._ Turning your head to the side, you took in the sleeping man next to you, who was currently fully unaware of you being awake. _Just like yesterday… before everything went to hell. He’d sleep through anything, slept through the damn apocalypse for God’s sake_. Pulling yourself out of your thoughts, you pulled the blankets up over your shoulders, selfishly revelling in the warmth of the fluffy comforter that had been piled on top of you both last night. A blush crept into your cheeks as you thought about last night, nearly the same shade of pink as the marks freshly dotted across your neck, stomach, and—

A sudden groan broke through the silence of the room, followed by a slightly louder one a second later. You watched from where you were nestled comfortably under the layers of blankets, as he rolled onto his back, what little of the blanket he had left now riding up his side, one leg now fully uncovered.

“Morning daddy” you said sweetly, watching as he stretched his body out, the arm closest to you coming up and under his head. His head turned to you then, and when he saw the state of you, a grin spread across his half-asleep face.

“You alright in there, darling?” He slurred out, sleep coating his deep voice. You nodded in response, pulling the blankets up even more to cover your blushing cheeks. In a quick attempt at distracting yourself from the heat rising through your body, you said the first thing that came to mind-

“Daddy, did I wake you up? I think it’s still really early…”

“Mmm darling… it seems as though _someone_ stole all the fucking blankets. And if that someone didn’t look _cute as shit_ right now, she would most likely be getting her little ass kicked out of bed for that shit.”

Giggling in response to his half-hearted threats, with the hand that was holding the blankets tight around your neck, you moved them over to him. When you saw that he was fully covered you moved then, shifting yourself closer to him.

“Yeah _damn right_ you’re gonna warm me up. It’s cause of you I’m fucking cold in the first place”, he complained as you moved. You were laying on him now, naked stomachs touching, your head tucked under his chin, the blankets drawn up to your shoulders. Looking up at him with the biggest puppy-dog eyes you could manage, you asked innocently-

“You warm now, daddy?”

“Such a little brat”, he drawled out, barely audibly. Kissing the top of your head as he finished talking, you sighed, head coming back down to rest against him. Your blushing cheek pressed against his warm chest.

It had been mere hours, but it felt like months since the events of yesterday. And every time you closed your eyes, when there was silence for more than a minute, your mind went back there. Back to the banging, to the sight of Negan standing bloody in the doorway, to the fear you felt racing through you when you were hid in the cupboard. It all raced through you, all at once, and you really believed you would never get rid of those thoughts, that they would haunt you regardless of what happened next. You could feel your breathing slowly getting faster, the feeling of shrinking creeping up on you, your head getting cloudy, when you felt a warm set of fingertips stroking in over your back – the top half of which was now exposed, the chilly morning air causing bumps to raise over your skin. You sighed in delight, a dreamy, warm feeling spreading through your body..

“You know what the best part about this whole outbreak shit is?” He asked lazily after a few minutes, voice still rough from sleep. You shook your head slightly in response, too content to speak. “I get to _lay in bed, all fucking day,_ with you. No work, no kids nagging my ass off, no annoying assholes in the teachers lounge. Just, _you_.”

Without a word you sat up, swinging your leg around his waist, and sitting on top of his stomach. Pulling the blanket up around your shoulders, your hands came down to balance yourself, resting on his chest. You giggled when you noticed where his gaze was focused, blush on your cheeks now turning a bright red and spreading down your neck. His eyes were almost black as his eyes drunk in the sight of you, still naked from last nights adventures, pink markings blossoming all over your neck and chest.

His hand came up to reach in over your bare hip, the other still behind his head. His thumb stroking over your skin as he spoke-

“ _So fucking perfect…”_

Biting your lip at his words, your hips began rocking softly at their own accord. Gently grinding yourself over him, the short hairs on his stomach tickling your most sensitive area. He got the message, as he sat up then, the blanket falling down around your waist as he did so. Two strong arms wrapping around you as he watched your face for a moment, before he asked, voice thick with want-

“Aren’t you sore from last night, darling?”

Shaking your head in response, you kept up the rocking motion, your hands coming up to wrap around his shoulders lazily, pulling his chest tight to yours. His hand smoothed up your back, a sinful grin spreading across his face as he replied-

_“That’s my fucking girl”_


	10. Running Low

One week. It had been one week since this whole nightmare had started. One week since the virus began. _One whole week._

And now you were both sat in the kitchen, clad in sweatpants and the thickest jumpers you could find. You had two pairs of socks on, a woolly hat on top your head, and a soft blanket thrown haphazardly around your shoulders. The heating system had failed to start up a couple of days ago, so layering clothing and blankets on you was all you could do to keep from feeling the cold. It had been fun while it lasted. _Of course it had been, alone with daddy, with nothing to do except for…_

But now it was getting serious. The house was consistently cold. And you can’t live wrapped in layers of blankets forever. _Can you?_ You were on your last rations of food – which was nowhere near a decent amount for you both to share. The bottles of water, soda, even the alcohol had been drained – now only half a bottle of lemonade was left between you both.

You had heard no news since the first day, before the tv connection went. The day after, the electricity cut off completely – flooding you both in darkness and silence, no tv, no radio, no chargers, nothing. After your initial panic, negan had gone around the house, placing candles here and there. It had been your job since to make sure they were always relit or replaced if they went out. Looking over at him now, where he sat opposite you at the kitchen table, an orange glow flickering over his cheekbones. You were thankful, more than thankful, that he was with you when this had started. _What would have happened if you were on your own?_ _We’d be dead by now dummy! Or we’d be one of those… things, probably._ But you weren’t. You were alive. Both of you were. However hungry and cold you were didn’t matter. _Did it?_

He was watching you now, and you bowed your head as you finished chewing the last piece of cereal you had. That you both had. _This is it. There’s no more food in the house. Crap_.

Leaning back in your chair, your hands pulling at the bottom of your jumper uncomfortably. An awkward tension was hanging thick in the air as you searched for enough guts to finally ask him. You had been dreading this moment, not knowing what would happen next. You couldn’t even look at him as you spoke-

“Daddy, maybe w— we need to,  _leave_?” It wasn’t even a second before he replied, his voice firm and thick.

 _“No fucking way_ are you going out there. **No**. That’s the final answer.”

“But we’re gonna starve in here! _We have to,_ we have to at least _try_!” You knew you had hit a nerve when you looked up at him, and his eyes were piercing into you. A mixture of anger and a hint of… _fear_  flashing across his face. You couldn’t look away, couldn’t move. So in your sweetest voice, you said the one thing you knew had a chance at working, _hell it usually worked on him_.

“Please, Daddy?”

Nothing. He didn’t move – didn’t blink. Until after a minute or two, his hands came up to run down his tired face, pinching at the bridge of his nose, as he sighed loudly. In a barely audible, slightly cracked voice he spoke-

“…baby. I, we can’t go out there. We don’t know what it’s like out there, _fuck_ it could be worse than last time”

Your head dropped then, staring down at your lap. You knew what had happened a week ago was haunting him. You knew he had barely been sleeping lately, trying hard to distract himself from thinking about it, even if he didn’t say it out loud. The awkward tension was feeling worse now. You don’t know how long you both sat there in silence, but you could feel him watching you for every second of it. You kept your head down, your hands fidgeting uncomfortably on your lap. After what felt like hours he spoke, his voice sounding more self-assured than it had earlier.

“Darling, _look_. I know we can’t stay here forever alright? _I_ _know that baby._ But—“ he sighed deeply then. Running his hand through his hair, still watching you as he finally continued, “but _, I just,_ if we went out there and one of those _people_ hurt you… _baby_ , baby it would fucking kill me if I lost you”

You looked over to him then, his eyes were shiny with tears and the worry was written across his face. Jumping up from your seat you ran around the table, over to him, sitting on his thigh as his arms instinctively wrapped around you. He kissed the side of your head as you snuggled into his side. Doing your best to reassure him you kissed over his neck, pushing the thick black jumper out of the way as you carried on kissing down his chest. Pressing your forehead against his shoulder you tried again-

“Yeah, but daddy I promise _, I promise I’ll do whatever you say okay?_ And, and I’ll stay behind you and I’ll be good and—”

“Guess we’re gonna have to get out of here at some point, aren’t we?” You nodded, looking up at him now.

“I promise I’ll be good, you won’t have to worry about me Daddy. _I promise”_

He smiled then, and you knew you had won. You were getting out, out of this house, for the first time in a whole week. The first time since the outbreak had started.

“We better get ready then sugar huh? Pack a few bags and shit. Hell, we’re gonna need a plan too”, he kissed your nose then, tightening his arms around you as he smirked slightly, one eyebrow raised as he teased you.

_“Think you’re gonna be any good with a knife baby?”_


	11. Little Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can tell from the word count I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. And of course, the first walker we properly encounter is going to be my favorite walker in twd - the little girl from s1! … Enjoy!

You had just finished getting your boots on, the tough pink leather making your double-socked feet feel even more squashed. Sitting on the edge of the bed with a huff, you bent down to reach your shoe-laces.

“Let Daddy do that for you hun”, you just about heard him say as he knelt in front of you, taking the laces out of your hands and proceeding to thread them through the holes. You watched quietly as he did so, tying each with a tight bow on top. He leaned forward then, his hands around your calves, holding you to him. His head came down to rest on top your knees, and you knew he was having second thoughts.

“Daddy we’re ready now yeah?” you asked. Trying to keep a positive tone to your voice, you couldn’t stay here, no matter what was out there – you couldn’t stay here. He stood then, sighing heavily. Jumping up to stand in front of him you still had to look up at him as he spoke, your head only reaching up to his chest.

“You know the fucking plan baby, right?“

“Yup”

“Tell me then, c’mon, what’s the plan?”

“Daddy goes out first, I carry my bag and I run to the car and I don’t stop and I shut the door and—”

“You do not”, he was in your face now, his nose inches from yours, a serious tension between you suddenly. “and I repeat, _do not_ , stop. Not for anything, okay? Even if one of those fuckers, fuck baby no matter what, you do not stop.” He paused then, his eyes darting over your face, looking for an answer. Putting your hand up to your forehead, in a military salute, you answered him, your face as serious as you could be.

“Yes Daddy”

It took a second or two. A second or two of awkward stillness, then his mouth twitched into a grin, and he replied as he nodded, seemingly happy with your actions.

“Good girl.”

Kissing your forehead, he turned then, walking over to the two bags you had both packed. Each one looked like it was about to burst at the seams. Picking them up and onto his back, he headed for the stairs. You trailed along behind him, making a mental list in your head and ticking off everything you had packed. It wasn’t much, just two bags between the both of you. He had insisted that you didn’t need to take _everything_ in your wardrobes, _Just the essentials doll_ , he had said. You couldn’t pack any food and drink because, well, _there wasn’t any to pack_. You did however, manage to fit in a few personal things, just little items that you couldn’t bear to part with. So this was it, your whole life was in just two bags. _Two bags and Negan._

His shout snapped you out of your thoughts, and you padded into the kitchen to see what he wanted.

“Baby, this is for you okay?” he said, holding a knife out towards you cautiously. It was silver, the blade bigger than your hand, and you didn’t feel comfortable holding it.

“Uhh, Daddy you said I’m not allowed to touch those”

“Yeah, well, gotta protect yourself somehow. If I’m busy sorting out one of those things and one comes at you, baby you’re gonna have to deal with it”

You looked at him, _he cannot be serious!_ But he was. His face was completely serious, there was even a hint of pride as he looked you over.

“Daddy I don’t—I don’t know how to use this?” you could hear the panic creeping into your voice. Your reluctance to go out there finally coming through. He reached for your hand then, positioning the handle of the knife in your palm, wrapping your fingers around it.

“Baby you’ll be fine. You just”, he was behind you now, his hand still around yours on the handle, as he acted out the motions with you, “point, and thrust. Easy right?” Kissing the side of your cheek, you looked at him, a mixture of worry and reluctance on your face.

“Daddy you have _got_ to be kidding me.” You said, making him laugh in response.

“Oh I am _deadly fucking serious_ here, darling. Any, _any_ of those things come near you – you kill them alright. No exceptions princess. Hell, go to town, do some Karate Kid shit on them, I don’t give a fuck as long as you’re alive, understand?”

It took you a few seconds, then you nodded in acceptance. _It’s not like we have many other options. Its this or starve._ You watched as he took another knife out of the block and strapped it around the belt on his trousers, leaving it hanging on his hip. Turning back to you as he zipped his jacket up, the reality of what was happening starting to make a warm feeling spread throughout your body. Fixing your own jacket into place you sighed, nerves starting to get a hold of you. _This is it. This is finally it. We’re leaving. We’re leaving and there’s no turning back._

“You ready princess?”

Looking over at him, gathering yourself, reminding yourself that this was a good thing, you nodded.

“Yeah. Yeah I’m ready”

He held the bag up for you as you slid your arms through the straps. It was heavy, and you knew you couldn’t last long with it on you. _Lucky we’re only going to the car then huh?_

Pulling his own bag on he turned to you, looking you over, making sure you had everything you needed. Finally he walked over to the counter, picking up the bat that had been left there since he had used it a week ago.

“C’mon then, sugar”

A flash of anticipation ran through you at his words, and you followed him out to the front door. The boards that you had both put up a week ago were off now. And as you stood patiently waiting behind him, he crouched down to look through the letter box. Surveying the situation outside, less than five minutes later he stood back up.

“Good thing is, it looks like most of those fuckers have gone home. As far as I can see there’s three, maybe four, out there. We do _exactly_ as we planned understand? _Exactly what we went over_. The one by the car I’m gonna take care of, don’t worry about him alright darling?”

Gulping down, you nodded reluctantly. _Please let this work_.

“Yeah, yeah got it”

“Right. Let’s get this shit show on the road then baby!”

What you _weren’t_ expecting when he opened the door was the light burning into your eyes. Being hidden away in candlelight for just over a week hadn’t prepared you for beaming sunlight. The shock wore off within seconds, as Negan’s back-pack-clad body blocked your view. He was walking, fast but quiet enough not to draw attention, down the path towards the car. You rushed forward, catching up behind him in no time, trying your best not to panic, keeping your eyes on his back.

“Baby go to the car, don’t make a sound”, came the quiet, near-whisper from the man in front of you. Rounding his side, you did just that as he went in the other direction. Clutching at the knife in your hand and telling yourself to keep your breathing steady. _Just walking to the car. Just a normal day out. Just a—_

You froze then. As soon as you heard the groaning. The exact same sound from last week, from when he had gone downstairs, from when you heard him shouting and _the groaning_. You couldn’t move. The memories were flooding back all at once, and you knew, you knew you shouldn’t look, but you just _couldn’t_ stop yourself. Your hands started shaking as you stood there staring at it – at the groaning girl shuffling her way towards you. Only it wasn’t a girl. Well, not anymore.

Her soft white dressing gown was practically brown with dirt and yellow patches. The edges were ripped and fraying as it swung gently with her movements. Her knees were covered in dirt and blood, her small legs trying their hardest to get to you despite the ragged bunny slippers she had on. Her hands were the same, greying skin with dark red blotches, as they reached out towards you. You would have reached out towards her, attempt to comfort the poor little girl, if it weren’t for the state of her face. Her skin was an uncomfortable shade of white, with dark pink patches covering the sagging skin under her eyes. Where her mouth should have been, there was now a dark red mass. As she groaned out again, louder this time, bloody drippers leaked out slowly, adding to the stains on her ragged pyjamas. You couldn’t move even though she was getting closer. You were frozen where you were stood – only a few feet from the car, but you couldn’t take your eyes off her, off this helpless little child…

The next thing you saw was a baseball bat ripping through her skull. Chunks of her skin, pieces of her brain were flying through the air in front of you. You couldn’t breathe, shock hitting you full force as you felt the warm splatters of her blood hitting your face. You couldn’t tear your eyes away from her though, her headless body still standing there in front of you, before it staggered slightly then collapsed – a heavy thud hitting the concrete, blood spurting out from the neck. Your vision started to blur as your breath came in quick pants. Your head started to feel heavy and you doubted your legs would let you stand up for much longer. Then a voice sounded through the shock, barely registering in your mind as you stared at the pooling blood.

_“Baby, I said get in the fucking car!”_

 


	12. Holy Shit

Looking back up you saw them then. Shuffling their way towards you both, mindlessly bumping into cars, lampposts, whatever was in their way. There must have been around ten, and even with shock running through you, you knew that you had no chance of surviving. _Not unless you get your ass in the car. We can make it. But it has to be now._

So listening to the unusually-confident voice in your head, you turned on your heel – trying your hardest not to look at the body on the floor, or the group of them getting closer. Gripping the handle, you swung open the passenger door, throwing your bag in you kept the knife in hand, _just in case, right?_ Before you could call to Negan you saw him rounding the front of the car, throwing the bag into the backseat before opening his own door. As soon as you were both in he pressed the lock, securing you both. You sat there in silence, safe for the heavy breathing, as you felt his hand circling around yours. Sharing a look of relief before you both turned to look out of the windscreen, watching the group that was still walking towards you.

There was twelve, you counted as you watched them. Five men, seven women. Some seemed to be in pyjamas, others in sweatpants and jumpers – all of them covered in dark stains and patches of blood. All of them had the same greying skin, the same bloody mouth hanging open, the same deep groaning coming sound getting louder as they drew nearer. They were in front of the car now, and as the one in front mindlessly walked into the car bonnet, the others behind her followed – crushing her torso against the metal. Neither of you could look away, could speak, as you watched her, arms outstretched towards you both. Her fingers curling in like claws, her mouth hanging open – thick blood dripping out onto the car hood.

It wasn’t until a thump sounded suddenly next to you, did you let out a scream in shock. Turning your head to look out the passenger window, you knew what you saw now would be in your nightmares forever. A man, who couldn’t have been no more than twenty, was on the opposite side of your door. His striped pyjama top was a mess of blood and dirt as it hung loosely off his chest, his hands trying to get a hold of you, scratching their way down the glass. You were frozen where you sat, your hands shaking as they gripped the edge of your seat. You could feel terror running up your spine, feel your throat tightening. And when he pressed his face against the glass, and you saw the hunger in his eyes – eyes that seemed to be too alive for the rest of his body – you saw the blood rushing out of his open mouth, pouring against the window pane and running down the outside of the door. That was it. You screamed, ear-piercingly loud. But you couldn’t help it, didn’t know where it came from, didn’t know how to stop it. You just had to scream.

You felt two warm arms wrapping around you then. Negan’s voice cooing soft words into your ear, doing his best to calm you. Turning around, and clambering your way over the middle of the car, you climbed into his lap, bringing your hands up to your mouth, pulling at the top of your coat. His arms tightened around you as he kissed your head. But you couldn’t tear your eyes from the man outside the passenger window, still trying his hardest to get in. Wiping away the tears you didn’t even notice were covering your cheeks, Negan looked down to you before he spoke-

“This isn’t gonna be fucking pretty, darling, alright? But we gotta get out of here before old fuckface here thinks he‘s getting a free ride with us”

Still watching the man, you nodded. You felt his finger under your chin then, prodding you to look at him instead. Keeping your head pressed against his shoulder, you did, wiping at your eyes with your hand.

“He’s not getting in princess, Daddy’s got you. You’re safe” He kissed your nose then, and you nodded at him again, more confident this time. You felt his arms loosening around you, as he shifted you slightly so he could position himself better. You clutched onto his coat, as he turned the keys – the engine kicking in loudly, just enough to drown out the groaning.

“Let’s get fucking out of here then gorgeous”

The car revved loudly, the group blocking the way, still trying to get to you. Before it revved again, and with a grunt he switched gears, revving the engine up louder, before you jerked forward. Reversing back a couple of feet, he stopped, the engine still running, and the group now shuffling towards you all over again. You clutched on tighter, guessing what he was about to do next.

The car slammed forward then, at full speed. Ploughing through the group, causing chunks of flesh and bodies to go flying over the windscreen. Blood covered most of the window, throwing red shades over the inside of the car. Yet as he turned the wipers on, you couldn’t help the small smile that crept up on you as he gave a thrilled shout, seemingly way too excited for the situation you both found yourselves in-

_“Holy shit! Did you see that shit baby? ‘Cause that was some disgusting-ass shit!”_


	13. Dying Sunlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The songs mentioned are I’m On Fire and Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen …Enjoy!

Rolling yourself over, you sighed softly, still half-asleep. Something warm and heavy was covering you, and recognising it’s scent you nuzzled your nose into it more than you already were. Blinking your eyes open, you were met with the cushioned backseat of the car, orange hues of the dying sunlight spreading out over the material. Holding the jacket to you, you sat up, your head pounding as you did so. The car was stopped, engine off, and looking over the at the front mirror you could see him reclined in the driver’s seat, his eyes shut. Music was playing quietly in the background, some song from one of his thousand cd’s. Looking out the front window you sighed, _where are we?_ Pulling his jacket on and zipping up the front, you laid your head on the side of his seat. Watching the sun set behind the mountains as the next song began playing, the small town you’d just escaped from was now in near darkness.

Your eyes were closing softly when you heard his voice, nearly inaudible next to you.

_“… hey little girl, is your daddy home…”_

You watched him in awe, your eyes reading over the man that had kept you safe these last few days, who had been your rock during this whole nightmare. His eyes opened then, looking back into yours, a soft smile on his face as he continued quietly-

“… _Oh ohh ohh, I’m on fire…”_

You couldn’t help but smile back, a warm fuzzy feeling shooting through you, the realisation that you were both safe, that you were both away from those _people,_ your smile broke into a laugh then. A genuinely happy, content laugh. You hadn’t felt this good in just over a week. He was laughing too now, watching you with sparkling brown eyes, the same feeling running through him.

Climbing over the front seat, both laughing even more as your foot got stuck in between the chairs, you clambered into the passenger seat. Pressing the forward button on the radio as the song came to an end and turning the volume up as drums began kicking in, you were giggling even more when the man next to you began singing along again, loud as he could this time.

_“… cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run— “_

You couldn’t control your laughter, watching as his hands made up actions to the lyrics, his voice deeper than usual as he shouted the chorus out again, thoroughly enjoying himself. Lazily banging the drum beat out on the steering wheel in front of him as the song started fading out.

A lazy grin was spread across his face as his head turned to you then, still laying back against the reclined seat. His arm lazily stretched out to you, begging you to climb onto his lap as the next song began playing. You did so, clambering once again over the gear stick and landing heavily on his thigh. His arms wrapped around you almost instantly, pulling you in closer to him, leaning on his shoulder as you faced him.

“Daddy, what is this?”

His eyes were still closed as he answered, still laid back against the seat.

“What’s what, baby?”

“The man singing””

His eyes opened then, piercing into yours with confusion written across his face.

“Who is this? _Who, is, this?”_ There was a serious tone in his voice as he spoke, exaggerating each word. _“This_ my darling, _is only one of the fucking greats._ Jesus shit baby how can you not know who this is?!”

“Just because you know all the words, doesn’t mean we all know who he is.”

“It’s Bruce Springsteen baby, you know from the eighties”

“Well I don’t know then ‘cause I’m not that old”, you replied, shaking your head slightly. His eyebrow raised then as he spoke, his voice serious and direct-

“Are you fucking sassing your daddy, little girl?”

“ _Nope_ ”, you said, as sweet as you could, giggling slightly at the end when you saw his mouth twitch into a smirk.

“Good”, his hands came back around you now, pulling you up into him further as he kissed the top of your head. “Cause if I thought you _were_ , you’d be in deep shit baby, _deep fucking shit”._ His hands slid under the jacket then, under your jumper too, his rough skin smoothing up your back. He spoke again, the smirk still evident in his voice, “I might even have to punish you”

You were about to say some smart-ass reply, when his fingers started tickling over the skin at your waist, the part where he knew you were most sensitive. You couldn’t control the laughter that came from you, mixed in with a few screams and cries to stop. Finally giving in after a few minutes his hands came to rest on your hips, not moving from under your clothes. You were panting as you began to relax against him, mentally noting that you were going to get payback for that. You felt him chuckle softly underneath you, and you couldn’t wipe the smile off your face as you both went back to watching the changing skyline. Then after minutes of silence, in a tired, soft voice you asked-

“Daddy, where are we?”

“Up Rocky Mountain, I figured it might be safer up here, no houses and shit means no people right, which means none of those fuckers. Figured we could spend the night here, start off for somewhere new in the morning…”

Nodding against his chest, you couldn’t stop the yawn that came from your mouth. He chuckled again, reaching over to lower the music down, before his hand came up to your head. Smoothing over your hair lightly, you sighed, feeling completely content.

“Try and get some more some sleep alright? It’s been a long fucking day darling”

You nuzzled your head in more against his chest, his hand was still stroking through your hair gently, and you knew you’d be asleep again in mere minutes.

“G’night daddy” you said quietly, pulling the sleeves of his too-big jacket over your hands. A few minutes passed, both of you in silence except for the quiet sound of the CD still playing. Your eyes were getting heavier by the second, and as they blinked closed for the last time that evening, you just about heard him whisper into your hair, his voice laced with exhaustion.

_“Sweet dreams, my angel”_


	14. New Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can totally imagine negan having whatever badass cd you want in his car, and that is fine, but personally I had ‘A Little Less Conversation (JXL Remix)’ by Elvis playing whilst writing it... So negan being an Elvis fan is now canon in this world.  
> I won’t be apologising for that.

The bright morning sunlight was shining into the car, stirring you awake. Opening your eyes slowly, you realised his arms were still wrapped around you from last night, and before you could move to see if he was awake yet, his snore sounded through the silence of the car, making a small smile appear on your half-asleep face. Laying your head back down gently, and looking out of the front windscreen, you studied the view. The town in front of you seemed tiny from where you were parked, and you were even more grateful in that moment that Negan had driven you both up here. Away from the town, and away from those _things_.

Your hand clutched tightly onto your jumper’s sleeve as your mind was flooded with images from yesterday. You had barely been able to get any sleep, every time you closed your eyes the decaying man’s face was right there in front of you – his hands scraping at the window until it broke, until he managed to gain hold of you and—

Shaking your head, physically trying to rid yourself of the memories, you knew you had to find something to distract yourself, that if you sat here in silence you’d overthink it. So, sitting up slowly, and doing your best not to wake the sleeping giant underneath you, you climbed over to the passenger seat.

Opening the glove box in front of you, you pulled out a few cd cases, a pair of sunglasses, and eventually found what you were looking for – a map. It was old, ragged along the edges, and you didn’t know how accurate it would be, but it was the only map you both had for the moment. So, finding where you were, and using the chunky red pen which you had also found in the glove compartment, you began your mission. Circling buildings you thought may be useful, where you could find food, water, or anything that could help you both survive out here.

You were concentrating so hard, that you didn’t even notice the man next to you waking up. Until he spoke, his voice thick with sleep, as you nearly jumped out of your skin in fright at the sound.

“ _Hmm,_ what you doing gorgeous?”

“Mapping”, was your response. Placing both the map and pen behind you, you clambered back over to Negan, settling yourself once again on his lap. “Daddy here, _look_ ”, you pointed at the circled buildings, “there might be food there, and these ones might have things that we can use and, it’s a good idea right?”

You cut yourself off when you realised he was silent, just watching you, looking at your circles, before his eyes flickered back to yours. He couldn’t hold back the smirk that crossed his face as he chuckled, low and hearty.

“It sure is a good plan, but I can’t fucking see it without my glasses, darling”

You dropped your head down to his shoulder, groaning in response. You felt his hand on the back of your head, stroking over your hair.

“ _Dadddyyy”,_ you groaned out, “we need to start going, we can’t stay here all day. _I’m hungry_.”

His arms wrapped around you then, pressing you tighter against him, as he nuzzled his cheek on the top of your head.

“I know”, his hand reached up to stroke over your hair again, as he sighed against you, “so how about, you read the map out, I’ll drive, and we’ll go find ourselves some food”.

Pulling away slightly to look up at him, your smile almost instantly matched his. Nodding, you picked the now-crumpled map up again, and climbed over to the passenger seat. Looking over your markings before finally landing on one of your circles, “we should try this one”, you said, pointing at the very top circle. It was a supermarket, on the outskirts of the town, you had been there once or twice before. It was a huge building, with a large car park out front, and you hoped that given the fact that it was out of the way, you would have less of a chance of running into those _people_ again.

You watched him stretch, his arms hitting the roof as he yawned. Rubbing at his eyes with the side of his fingers, before he sat up, and pressed the handle down to bring the chair forward.

“C’mon then” he sighed as he turned the keys, and the engine rattled to life. Before he could pull away, you spoke up, your voice shaky and quiet as your mind began doubting your choices.

“Daddy…”

“Yeah, princess”, he replied as he turned to you, his hands still on the steering wheel, ready to go.

“What if—, what if there’s nothing there? What if it’s been emptied? Or what- what if them things are all inside and—“

“Sugar, stop. Alright? We’re gonna be fine, okay?”

Nodding, and trying your hardest to calm yourself down, you tried looking out the window to distract yourself. Watching the leaves blowing in the wind, and the soft clouds moving past ever so slowly. Pulling your knees up to your chest, and leaning your head against the window, you finally noticed just how lovely the view was from this height, from up where the houses seemed to be just little markings amongst the greenery. It would have been a perfect picnic spot, had it not been for the circumstances which had forced you both up there.

The brush of Negan’s arm against your leg brought you out of your thoughts. And you watched quietly as he opened the glovebox in front of you, picking out a cd box and the black sunglasses, before he sat back up. Turning your head back to the window, you heard the sound of drumbeats, getting faster and louder, thumping through the car, and then you heard him, a smirk evident in his voice as he sang along to the music.

He began pulling away then, and when you were halfway down the dirty track, and the houses began to look more normal-sized, he spoke again, almost shouting to be heard over the now in full-swing chorus of the song.

_“Where we off to first then, kid?”_


	15. The Supermarket

“You sure this is the right way doll?”

You nodded, telling him that you were certain, that you had been here before. You watched out the windows as you both drove along, weaving in between the derelict cars that littered the road, left behind by the chaos of people trying to flee the town. You had tried to stick to the main roads, hopeful to avoid any of the infected, and for the large part it had worked. You had passed by a few who had come close, but most of those you saw seemed to be just wandering, aimlessly shuffling around, searching for their next victim.

Turning the corner at the traffic lights, you perked up in your seat. The map now being forgotten as you pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket. It was empty, safe for two or three cars parked seemingly at random.

“You still sure about this doll?” He asked you, still looking out the window, searching for what your next move could be.

“Yeah, yeah it seems empty, I mean, I don’t know, I could be wrong”

Running a hand down his chin, and sighing, it wasn’t until a few seconds later he spoke again, mulling over your answer. Pulling up in front of the building, as close to the front doors as he could get, he stopped. When the engine cut off, and the music stopped in response, you both looked at one another, both of you reluctant to get out – even though both of you _knew_ you had to.

He reached behind you both, pulling over one of the bags and pulling out the knives you had both used to escape the house only the morning before. Taking yours, and holding it more confidently this time, you watched as he looked around the car, scoping the parking lot for any of those _things_ , before he looked back to you, “c’mon then, chick”, he sighed as he opened his door.

You rounded the car as quick as you could, standing next to him as he opened the back door, pulling out the old bat that used to lay on top the cupboard - the bat that was now stained red. Just looking at it made you shiver, reminding you of your first morning out, of that little girl who was now laying headless on the street outside your home. You blinked back the tears that were building up, trying to look anywhere _but_ the bat, trying your best to keep your cool. Bringing it up to lean on his shoulder, with a grin on his face, he spoke, more confident than he had sounded just minutes before-

“Let’s go get you some fucking food, sugar”

His arm swung over your shoulders then, pulling you against him as he held the bat in the other. Walking towards the store he reminded you once again of the rules – got to stick together, got to scream if you need help, got to focus on finding food and _leave the people to him._  
He pushed open the heavy doorway, grunting as he did so, as you stood behind him, looking over your shoulder every two seconds to make sure you didn’t have any surprise guests. When it was finally open, you both made your way inside, him first with you close behind, your hand clutched onto the bottom of his jacket, shaking slightly.

It was silent. _Too silent_. The whole building seemed to be empty, with no sign of life or movement anywhere. 

“Stay close, babe” you heard him say, almost whispering to you as he started forward, walking cautiously into the aisle in front of you. You looked over the shelves, they were almost empty, just a few items left right at the backs. You reached over, pulling the few fruit pots to the front to look at them, then you realised why they had been left – there was black spots growing on the fruit inside, the skins all shrivelled up. Sighing heavily, you pushed them back onto the shelf, _this is not a good start._ Looking over to negan, you shook your head, the disappointment in your find written all over your face.

You went over to him, taking his hand as you both continued up further into the store, which was still as silent as when you had first entered. Deciding to head for the canned food aisles instead, you turned the corner, following the now-dusty signs which were hanging up. He was following you all the way, only a few paces behind, and as silly as it seemed the quiet thud of his boots was comforting you somewhat, just knowing that he was still with you.

Your confidence came crashing to a stop however, when you turned the corner to enter your desired aisle. You froze suddenly where you stood, causing Negan to go crashing into your back, shouting out as he did so-

“Baby what the!—“

_“Shhh!”_ You spun around almost instantly at the sound of his voice, covering his mouth with your free hand. You could see his eyes widen when he took in the scene before him, realisation setting in, as he took your hand and pulled you gently behind him. You peaked around his side as he surveyed the aisle, making sure it was just the one. Before he whistled, a loud and shrilling sound, causing the _man_ in the aisle to turn around. You looked him over as he began to shuffle forward, moving slower than the others you had seen.

His greying skin was covered by a thick beard, the hairs of which were matted with clumps of blood. His uniform-overalls were now covered in brown patches of dirt and mysterious yellowing stains covered the front of his shirt, smudged with the blood that had dripped down out of his mouth. His mouth which was now growling at you both, new clots of blood pouring out as he tried his best to get nearer to you.

You felt a hand pressing against your stomach then, pushing you back gently with him, as you heard him speak-

“Princess”, he turned to face you then, when you hit the end of the aisle. “Stay here, don’t move, scream if you need me” he said hurriedly, kissing your forehead roughly before turning back to the _man_.

You wanted to drag him back to you, tell him that you should both just leave, that this didn’t need to happen, but you knew that would never work. So you stood there, watching as he walked forward into the aisle, swinging the bat at his side a few times for practice. You knew what he was about to do, you had seen what that bat had done to the little girl, but you couldn’t look away.

You watched as he took his stance, planting two feet firmly on the ground, bending slightly at the knee. You watched as he brought the bat up above his head, his jacket riding up with the rough movement and a sliver of skin peeking out. You watched as he brought the wooden object back down, with impossible force, splitting the man’s head straight down the middle, his body falling to the floor immediately with a loud thud, chunks of brain, flesh, and blood pooling out onto the tiled floor. You watched as he brought it up again, crushing what was left of the now-twice-dead body in front of him, in a wild frenzy that you couldn’t look away from.

Then you watched as the man who had sworn to look after you turned round to face you, breathing heavily. His face and jacket were sprinkled in spots of blood, the rush of excitement still sparkling in his eyes. Before he bowed, one hand to his chest and the other stretched out holding the now-dripping bat. The smirk was evident in his voice as he spoke, drawling out his words as he walked towards you with a lazy swagger-

_“You enjoy that fucking show then, sugar? Don’t worry”,_ he carried on as he winked at you, his finger coming up to tap your nose lightly, _“your secrets safe with me, my dirty little girl”_


	16. Shopping Spree

You shuffled over to the bags on the floor, a pile of cans in your arms, struggling not to let any drop. When you got closer you let them go, watching as your collection fell into your now half-full bag with loud clangs. You now had nearly three carrier bags full of food, sure it was all cans or boxes, but it was food at least and you were thankful the store hadn’t been raided completely. Although a part of you, a small voice at the back of your head, kept asking _why_. _Why steal things but still leave half the shelves full?_

Before you could dwell on it too much, you heard Negan rounding the corner, two spoons in one hand, the intimidating bat and another scrunched up bunch of carrier bags in the other.

“Thought we could have a lil’ picnic, sugar”, he said when he saw you eyeing the spoons, carefully leaning the bat up against the shelf. Holding one of the spoons out to you, he picked up one of the cans from the bag, using one of his knives to open it. Grinning widely, he took a large spoonful, the smell of it making your mouth start to water.

“Mhmm, mhmm, mhmm, delicious”, he moaned after he swallowed, seemingly pleased with his choice of beans. You couldn’t help yourself, the smell of food, food that finally wasn’t cereal or bread, and you jammed your spoon in. Taking a spoonful so big that it didn’t quite fit onto your spoon, you brought it up, immediately slamming the contents into your mouth.

But what you weren’t expecting was the vile taste that came with it. And you heard Negan’s roar of laughter as your face instantly contorted with disgust.

“Oh that is horrific! You said it was nice!—“, you cried out as you began coughing, your sudden anger being drown out by his laughter. He wiped at his now-watery eyes with the back of his hand, his laughter fading off slowly, as he spoke again, in between small chuckles he couldn’t control-

“Just shut up and eat it, princess, pretend it’s a nice burger or some shit”

You were about to argue, about to tell him _exactly_ what you thought of his suggestion. But as you opened your mouth to do so, a thud sounded from close-by. A loud thud, followed quickly by the sound of something falling onto the store’s tiled floor. Turning your head to the source, you felt Negan’s hand on your arm, pulling you closer into him as he handed you the opened can. Panic rose through you as he leant down slightly, picking up the bat. You saw his knuckles turning white with his grip on the wood, and your own hands started to shake, your chest tightening.

Then you heard it. The groaning which you had now become all too familiar with. And your hand gripped onto the open edge of Negan’s jacket, pulling yourself in closer to him as a _man_ clambered around the corner. His bright eyes staring at you both, arms stretching in your direction when he realised you were both there. The groans got impossibly louder as he started in your direction down the aisle, and then it hit you. It wasn’t just him - there were others here, others just like him.

Your guess was confirmed when a _woman_ shuffled her way around the corner aisle, followed by another, and another. You didn’t have a chance to count how many as you were being pushed behind Negan, sending the open can in your hand crashing to the floor, the wasted food now spilling out, as you both began taking small steps backwards.

“Baby, listen to me, stay calm, stay calm for me but we need to fucking go—“

“But what about the food?!”

You felt him freeze, before he ran forward, grabbing two of the bags roughly, a few cans falling out from the top with his harsh movements. He spun around then, the bags strangled around his one arm, the bat in the other.

“We gotta fucking run for it baby”, he shouted to you as he began running back, “just get back to the car!”

You didn’t even have a chance to think it over. Your legs started to run before you knew where you were going, and you sprinted as fast as you could for the exit. Chancing a look back, you saw him only a couple of feet behind you, despite the extra weight he had. Behind him, too close for comfort, you saw _them_. There was more than the three you had seen in the aisle, a small herd now, clumsily running after you both. The loud groaning was filling the store, and it felt surreal for a moment, like you were just in a bad dream, running until you woke up. Then you heard his shout over everything, telling you you were nearing the exit, not to slow down, that you were both going to get out of this.

With the extra surge of energy, you pushed onto the heavy entrance door. Growling loudly with the effort it took to get it to move.

When it did move out of your way and you were finally outdoors, looking back you could see Negan, closer behind you now and so you carried on running, out into the parking lot. _Straight to the car like he said_. And then you froze. You didn’t know what to do as you looked over to the car, exactly where you had both left it, except now it was dark, and there were two men standing either side of it, looking around the car park. As soon as they saw you, they started walking towards you, the grin on the one sending shivers down your spine as he looked you over. You couldn’t move as they came closer to you, and you knew you couldn’t go backwards, so you stood your ground, praying to God that Negan wasn’t that far behind you.

“What you doing out here all alone, sweetheart?” The taller one asked you, his voice patronising as he grinned. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous for a pretty little thing like you to be out here?”

You were shaking now, your one hand going to the handle of your knife, as your mind tried to work out the best way out of this. They were in front of you now, trapping you in between them, as fear ran through every inch of your body. Tears were welling in your eyes, and your head was starting to feel dizzy at the thought of what could happen next, when you heard the door slamming shut behind you. The three of you watched as a herd of _people_ slammed themselves up against the now-shut door, trying to break their way through the thick glass, bloody handprints now smearing across the pane.

He turned around then, still panting for breath, and you saw how his blood-splattered jaw tightened when he saw the situation in front of him. His face turned serious, deadly even, as he dropped the bags onto the floor next to him, his other hand holding the soaked bat out at his side, as bits of flesh and blood dripped off the end onto the gravel below. He spoke then, his voice deep and intimidating, underlined with just the slightest hint of sadistic amusement-

_“Oh you better get the fuck away from her”_

 


	17. Unhealthy Appetites

He spoke then, his voice deep and intimidating, underlined with just the slightest hint of sadistic amusement-

_“Oh you better get the fuck away from her”_

—

You watched in pure fascination as the bat came down again. The loud crack sounding through the air as it hit its target with unrestrained force once again.

And again.

And again.

What was a man merely ten minutes ago, was now a lifeless body on the ground, with a puddled mass of fleshy chunks where his head once was. The blood soaked into the gravel surrounding the body, the bright red liquid running through the cracks of the ground and under your shoes where you stood. Even then you couldn’t move, and you watched as the bat came down again, despite the target being dead after the first hit. This was pure rage, pure unadulterated rage from the man in front of you, and you thought better than to get in the way of it.

So you stood and watched.

You watched how his jacket rode up his back with each hit, how he grunted and groaned with every blow, the sounds almost sinful.

Then it stopped. He took a few steps back before straightening up, grinning madly as he admired his hard work. When he turned to face you, your breath caught in your chest at his appearance. Dark curls were hanging in front of his forehead, sweat dripping down his brow, and the deliciously cocky grin was splattered with thick lashings of the sticky red blood. His shirt and jacket were eschew from his movements, and his chest rose rapidly with his heavy breathing.

The sick feeling was still there, _of course it was, how could it not be?_ But this time it was different, it wasn’t the _only_ feeling you had as you looked him over now. And that was starting to frighten you more than his actions did.

He was looking you over too, checking you were okay, that you were untouched, before he spoke. His voice was dark, despite his best efforts to calm himself.

“Where’s the other one?”

“He, he ran, he—“

“That fucker, I should go and fucking find him huh! That fucking—“, you ran forward then, cutting him off in surprise as you wrapped your arms around his torso, not caring one bit about the stickiness of his blood-splattered jacket. It took a few seconds, and then you heard the crashing of wood on gravel as he dropped the bat to the ground, before you felt his arms wrapping around you, forcing you closer into him.

You stayed like that for what felt like hours, wrapped in each other’s arms, blood pooling around your shoes. You felt his lips pressing against your head, followed by the scratch of his scruffy chin rubbing against your forehead, pushing your head up to face him. His eyes searched your face for a moment, but for what you didn’t know, before he spoke, barely louder than a whisper-

“We really need to eat, baby”

You nodded against his chest, squeezing your arms around him, not quite ready to let go yet. But at the thought of food, your body had its own ideas, and you found yourself taking a step back from him, once again excited at the idea of eating, your mouth watering slightly at the thought.

“Can you carry this for me, sugar?”, you heard him ask, holding out the still-dripping bat towards you. You hesitated, questions surging around your mind as he looked at you expectantly. Despite every warning in your head telling you not to, you reached out to him, to the bat, your hand shaking slightly as you did so. And you stood there, your hand wrapped around the handle of the wooden weapon, keeping your arm outstretched away from your body. Watching as Negan went back to the bags of canned food, picking both up with a small grunt, before he started walking to the car, shouting a ‘c’mon’ to you as he passed.

\- -

It had been nearly an hour. Nearly an hour since you had watched Negan kill that man. Except this time, unlike the already-dead people you watched him kill, his victim was alive when he started his attack. _Alive. That man was alive. And now he’s a puddle on the floor of the store carpark. Because of—_

“Baby, you got any ideas, like for where we could go next?”

Snapping out of your thoughts, you looked over to the man sitting next to you. He had driven you both back to the mountaintop, both agreeing that it was probably the safest place you knew of. You looked him over, completely distracted from the spoonful of beans in your hand. He had tried to wipe himself off when you had parked up, using an old blanket he had found in the boot. It seemed as though it didn’t do much help though, as smudges of red still stained his tanned skin, the top of his shirt stained through completely. His dark brows were pulling together now slightly, eyes squinting in confusion as you just stared back at him, a state of complete awe written across your face. He started to grin then, eyes sparkling with mischief as he spoke, waving a hand up in front of you for emphasis, a chuckle in his voice.

_“Baby, are you still there? You’re not daydreaming about my dick again are you hun?”_


	18. Ghost Town

You shifted as your arm went numb under your head. You had been driving around the town for a few hours now looking for signs of life - for signs of people, survivors, anything. But so far it was no good. There were cars left all over the road, some with their doors still open where people had fled in panic. You had passed countless numbers of infected men, women, and even children, who were still alive enough to roam the streets, but dead all the same. The doors of the car had been locked as soon as you had left the mountaintop, and the nervous tingle that ran through you as you weaved slowly through the streets did nothing to ease the memories of the supermarket. Memories that were still fresh in your mind.

You stretched your arms out in front of you, yawning as you did so. You had barely slept the night before, your mind racing as you laid on top of Negan, his own body somehow squashed into the length of the backseats. You saw the herd of infected chasing after you, the little girl laid out headless on the floor, the puddle of flesh that was once a man, the unforgettable groaning sound they all seemed to make. And you laid there, your eyes open despite the heavy blinks, Negan’s arms around you as he snored through the night. If he had been as affected by the day’s events as you had, he was certainly doing his best not to show it. He hadn’t said a word about it, about that man, about what he did to him, since it happened. He had talked about what your next plan was, where to go next and how to keep getting food and drinks, before stating that you both needed sleep.

You looked over to where he sat in the driver’s seat, one hand on the wheel, the other resting on the window. His dark sunglasses were resting on top of his head, and you couldn’t help but be distracted by the scruff on his jaw – the silver strands now getting thicker than you had ever seen him with before, his usual sleek and clean appearance now gone. He must have sensed you staring, because he spoke then, his head still facing the road as he did so.

“You fancy a nap, baby?”

Moaning out a tired yes, you sat forward in your seat, clumsily taking your heavy boots off, dropping each one onto the footwell in front of you. Pulling the lever to recline your seat, and bringing your knees up in front of you, you rested your head in the crook of your arm, shuffling slightly to get more comfortable. You smiled as you watched him, before you yawned again, louder this time.

You don’t know how long it was, but you felt his hand stroking over your ankle, and his voice sounded vague in the distance, as you drifted off into what you hoped would be a better sleep than the night before.

\- -

“What time is it?” You asked, your voice hoarse with sleep. You had slept better this time, but then the groaning had started, and images of the people that accompanied it had started to seep into your dreams. That was around when you had woken up, blinking your eyes open, fully relieved to find you were still in the car, with Negan next to you, still slowly trailing the abandoned streets.

“You’ve only been out for about two hours babe, get some more if you need it alright?”

Shaking your head as a reply, you shuffled around to get more comfortable, sitting up a little in the process. It was dark now, the sun nearly completely gone, and you noticed how the streetlights were all off, leaving you both with the dark orangey glow from the sky, and the dimmed light of the car’s headlamps.

You knew this street, realised that you had been here before a few years ago, but for what you couldn’t remember. The houses all had the same empty atmosphere to them as you looked out of your window, all were in darkness and you noted how a few had their front doors left wide open,  splatters of blood on some of the windows, the sight making you feel sick almost instantly. Deciding it was probably better to not look around too much, you were about to turn back around, when your breath caught in your chest suddenly, _that can’t be, can it?_

“Negan stop!” You shouted, your hand gripping at his arm as you tried to get closer to the window, needing to know if you had really seen what you had thought. Your heart was beating loudly in your chest as you drew in shallow breaths, you suddenly felt warm, and as the car came to a fairly sudden stop your hands started to sweat with a mixture of panic and… relief?

“What is it baby? What can you see?”

You felt him pressing closer behind you, trying to look out of your window as he questioned you. You lifted your hand up to point at the upstairs window of the house opposite, your other hand still gripping onto him for safety.

“I—I think there’s someone up there”, you just about managed to say, your voice cracked, and you had to cough before you could continue. “That window, I swear the curtain moved, there was a man there, he—”

“Baby, you sure it wasn’t just one of those things?”

Your head whipped round to face him instantly at that. He was still leaning over, and you were only a few inches apart now.

“I—no, no I’m sure it was a man, like a real man, like a living, breathing man Negan, he was stood there and he looked at me and—”

Your voice trailed off with the growing panic in your body, as his arms wrapped around you from behind as best he could manage. You felt his hand rubbing soothing circles into your side, and he spoke then, the reluctance evident in his voice.

“You think we should take a look?”

You were silent for a moment, taking in your surroundings, trying to figure out your best options. Then you turned to him, your voice almost a whisper, not quite believing what you were about to say.

“If there’s someone in there, they might need our help, and if we leave then—then they—”

You were broken off by his lips pressing against your forehead, then your nose, then a quick press against your own lips. His eyes met yours as he nodded at your answer, the engine grumbling to silence as he turned the keys.

_“Fine, but you’re staying here, no fucking arguing.”_


	19. New Faces

Your fingers drummed along to the music, nervously fidgeting as you waited. There was silence, save for your breathing, and you listened out, desperately hoping to hear his voice again.

He had left the safety of the car around fifteen minutes ago, having strapped his knives to his belt, using his strictest voice to tell you to stay put inside the car, lock the doors as soon as he was done, and open them when you saw him coming back. After picking up the stained baseball bat from the backseat he had kissed your forehead, before swinging himself out of the driver’s door.

That was fifteen minutes ago. And you hadn’t heard or seen a thing since.

Re-assuring yourself that he was okay, that it was definitely a man you had seen and not one of those things, you took a few deep breaths, stretching out your arms in front of you. Opening the glovebox to see what you could distract yourself with, you pulled out one of the cd’s, pressing the radio on and putting it in, your hands shaking as you did so. The sound of drums filtered into the car, and you recognised it instantly from one of Negan’s favourite movies. “ _Now this, sugar, is from one of the best movies ever made”,_  he would say to you, every time he heard it, without fail, and you couldn’t help the small smile that came over you, the nostalgia calming you slightly.

The calm feeling left as soon as you heard the bang from outside. Instantly pressing the radio off you sat up in your seat, your hand nervously hovering over the lock button on the dashboard, as you looked out into the ever-darkening street for the source.

But there was nothing. Nothing had moved, and you were sure you couldn’t see anyone either. Relaxing back against your seat, but keeping the radio off, you tried to take deep breaths.

_There’s nothing out there and Negan’s fine. Yeah, but what if he isn’t? He is! But what if it really was a dead guy you saw? Those dead things can’t pull back curtains! Can they?_

Then another bang caught your attention, similar to the last one but louder. Sitting back up, you were on edge as you saw the door to the house opening. The house he had gone into,  _the house you had told him to go into._ The door was open, but there was no-one coming out, and your brain went into overdrive, your hands sweating as you gripped and picked at the car keys.

Then a man took a few steps out of the dark doorway. The man you had seen from the window. All you could make out from the lack of light was that he was tall, slim, and his hair was down near his shoulders. He was looking around the street, nervously checking for any infected, before he stepped out further, waving whoever was behind him forward. You could tell by his body language that he was terrified, the paranoia clear by how often he kept looking around the street. He looked in your direction then, before yelling something back to the doorway.

Then another figure emerged from the house. And you knew who it is was instantly. You breathed a harsh sigh of relief before your mind registered on the body in his arms. It was hard to tell from where you were sat, but it looked like a woman, long hair was hanging over his arm as her head was curled into his chest, two thin legs hanging over his other arm. Worry surged through you at the sight, she was obviously hurt, but how badly you couldn’t make out.

When they were near the car you unlocked the doors, reaching over to put the keys into the ignition. The back door swung open behind you, and you turned yourself around to see what was happening. The man couldn’t have been more than thirty, his hair now a dark blonde under the car’s lights and you could see the beard growing on his face, his nose long and thin. Then his eyes met yours, and the car was suddenly enveloped in an awkward tension. That was until Negan’s voice broke through it, the man moved out of the way as he stepped into view, the woman still in his arms. He tried his best to put her down gently, sitting her down and then swinging her legs up onto the seats. Her head lulled back onto the seat, but you could see she was around the same age as the man with her, making you wonder if that was their house, if they had been there since all this had started. Her brown hair was a mess around her thin face, and from her lack of movement you guessed she was unconscious. Then you saw the dry blood staining her pant leg, a large rip in the material just above her boots, and the fresh red wound visible underneath.

The driver’s door opening made you turn away from the sight, and you couldn’t help but smile as you watched Negan sit down. He turned to you when he was settled, one hand coming up to pull your chin towards him before a sloppy wet kiss was planted onto your lips, making you smile even more.

“Good work, baby”, he drawled out as the backdoor opened, and you looked to see the man getting in. He turned the engine before he spoke again, louder this time so the whole car could hear.

“We got some new friends princess, they say they’ve got a hideout, whole bunch of them there, they even got food and shit”.

Your mouth opened involuntarily, relief and excitement flowing through you so fast you felt like you were going to faint. Then you turned to the man in the backseat as the car began moving, holding out your hand as you introduced yourself, the smile on your face widening even more at the prospect of people, food, and shelter.  _And maybe even a proper wash!_

Then he spoke, his shaky hand coming up to meet yours,

_“I’m Dwight, this is Sherry, my wife”_


	20. The Others

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is it!   
> the last chapter of the first part of my savior!   
> part two is going to take a fairly different turn, as we see Negan becoming the leader of the saviors, the rise of the sanctuary, and baby’s own development (I have big plans for her!).   
> So, thank you all for sticking with me this far, and… enjoy!

“When you get to the junction it’s the first turn left, it’s not that far away from here”

_“What the fuck_ were you two doing so far out here if you had a safe fucking place?”

You had been on the road for nearly twenty minutes now, relaxing back in your seat as you listened to their conversation. Dwight, you had learnt, was married to the woman, Sherry. They had found shelter in their local community church, just a street or two from their house, only a day after the outbreak had initially started. There they had taken in other survivors, including a family with two young children, a few teenagers, and an older couple. They had taken turns keeping watch out of an upstairs window, waiting and hoping for others to join them, praying that none of the infected would realise they were there.

“We came out, looking for others ya know, the car run out of gas, and then it only got worse from then on. Just, just glad you both found us when you did”, you heard him sniff then, and it sounded like he was starting to cry, but doing his best not to in front of you both. “If you hadn’t, I’m not sure— not sure she would make it”

You turned to him then, in time to see him rub the water from his eyes with the back of his sleeve. Reaching your hand out, you gently touched the edge of his knee, pulling back after just a second. He looked up at you then, his eyes still glassed over, red around the edges, and you gave the most sympathetic smile you could, before you reassured him.

“It’s gonna be fine Dwight, Sherry’s gonna be fine, I promise, you said you had a nurse there didn’t you?”

He nodded at that, sniffing again, before he mumbled out an unconvincing agreement. He looked out the window next to him then, voicing another direction to Negan.

The whole street was shrouded in darkness, making the dim lights of the car seem even brighter. Like most other streets you had seen earlier today, there were cars left abandoned on the road, making Negan drive even slower as he did his best to avoid hitting them.

You were sat upright in your seat, back to looking out the front window. Eager to get to this safe place, eager to see if what Dwight had told you really  _was_ true. According to his directions from the backseat you were only a street away now, with less than five minutes before you arrived.

\- - 

The car slowed even more, until it came to a quiet stop. Two barred gates who were lit up by the headlights of the car, and you could see a small driveway through the gaps, the church building looked as derelict as the rest of the street as you studied it,  _what if he’s lying? What if there is no group?_

The engine cut off then, silence filling the air and the light fading from in front of you. You looked at Negan, now relying on the moonlight to see him, as he reached for your hand, picking it up and kissing the back. Then you heard Dwight speak, his voice full of nerves.

“I’ll go in first, so they know it’s us—“

“Sure thing kid”, came the interruption from Negan, his tone making it obvious that he was not playing games, “make it quick so your lil’ lady doesn’t bleed all over my seats yeah?”

You could cut the atmosphere with a knife, the tension suddenly sky-high between the pair, and the excitement you had about joining a group was now mixed with a nervous reluctance. Through the darkness you could see the man in the back’s unease, not quite sure how to react to Negan’s comment, and with a quick glance at his wife’s unconscious form, deciding on mumbling out a “yeah” as he exited the car.

When he came in front of the car you felt Negan’s hand tighten around yours. He brought it back to his mouth again, kissing the back, and then the palm, before he spoke, his voice low and deep.

“Baby look, I don’t know why yet but I don’t trust this fucker, so I want you to stay near me alright? We don’t know who these people are, and they could be fucking dangerous, so you stick with me yeah”, he paused then to press his lips against your fingers, kissing your palm again before he continued, “I’m gonna keep you safe darling”

You were both brought out of the moment by the movement of Dwight coming back. This time he had a man in tow, and you couldn’t look away from the gun strapped across him.

Negan opened his door first, rounding to your side, before they opened the back door, Dwight pulling the still-unconscious woman from the seat, grunting as he struggled to pick her up, before doing his best to get back to the building.

Your door opened then, and you got out to stand next to Negan, clutching his hand for support. The man with the gun was stood a foot or so in front of you, now looking you both over, before he spoke, starting his way back to the building as he did so.

“‘Come with me, the boss will want to meet you first”

You felt Negan’s hand squeeze around yours, before he followed the man.

As you got closer to the building you could see the dim orange light seeping through the hastily boarded-up windows, before the man in front pushed open the door, holding it open for you both to enter. Negan went in first, his hand still firmly wrapped around yours, as he pulled you gently along behind him. When you were in you heard the door close behind you, the man now coming to stand in front of you both again.

You could see him better now, with the help of the candlelight. He looked around your age, only a little shorter than Negan as he stood there. His dark hair was a mess, red patches underlined his eyes and his hands were gripping onto the gun in front of him as you noticed him staring at the bat hanging from Negan’s hand. Bringing you out of your observation, his voice sounded through the small hallway room, seemingly more confident than he looked.

“Stay here, I’ll go get him”, he said before he turned to leave through the doorway next to him. You were about to speak, when less than a minute later the doorway opened back up. The armed man walked back through, this time followed by another. The man behind him was taller, and older. His face was sporting a moustache and a short beard, his hair long but receding. A grin was spread across his face as he looked you both over, before he held his hand up for Negan to shake, then you, introducing himself in a fairly cheerful voice.

_“Great to meet you both, our newest additions! I’m Simon, the one in charge here, unofficially of course”_


	21. Safe Haven (Part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter of Part II: The Sanctuary.  
> Enjoy!

By the time you arrived the others were asleep. No electric lighting and only one open space meant that bed time was a communal event for all those staying here. You had gripped onto Negan’s hand as soon as you had got out of the car, and your other was clutched onto the back of his jacket as you climbed the narrow stairwell. Simon, the unofficial leader, had taken you both quietly upstairs, where a small room adjoined onto what looked like it had previously been a supply room, with boxes scattering the floor space. It was difficult to tell what was what with the only light in the room coming from the candle in Simon’s hand.

You were sat on Negan’s lap, legs kicking softly as they dangled in between his spread legs. Your head was resting on his shoulder and you were trying your hardest not to give in and fall asleep. He had pulled you onto him as soon as you were both offered to take seats, despite the now-empty chair next to you both. His arms had wrapped around your waist immediately, and even in the low candlelight you had sworn you had seen Simon’s face alter slightly at Negan’s possessive actions.

That was ten minutes ago. And you were still on his lap, still had your head against his shoulder, only by now you had practically given up joining in with their conversation. You had listened to Negan tell your story, of how you had chosen to stay home and board up during the initial outbreak, before leaving only a few days ago due to your lack of food and water.

Simon had listened silently, reacting only at parts like your run in with the herd of infected in the shopping mall. The memories flooded into your mind as you listened to Negan recalling them, the image of the little girl being as clear as it was on the day.

When he got to the part where you had found what turned out to be Sherry and Dwight, Simon had come out of his trance-like state, continuously thanking you both for rescuing them. He had leaned over from where he sat to shake Negan’s hand, thanking him again for what he did, “hell some people would have just driven straight past”, he had said.

You had watched him carefully while he spoke of how this place turned into a kind of safe haven for survivors, how they had lost one man while trying to board up the downstairs windows, how the place was empty when they first found it. You noticed how he absentmindedly rubbed at the thick hair on his upper lip when he was thinking back, how he rubbed over the back of his neck when he heard the almost-fatal experiences you and Negan had been through, and yet as you sat there watching, you couldn’t put an age on him. _He’s definitely older than 30, maybe even 40? He can’t be 50? Is he older than Negan? That ‘stache doesn’t help._

Bored at playing a detective, and failing at it, you couldn’t help the yawn that you let out as you nuzzled yourself further into Negan’s side. It was late, probably somewhere past midnight by now, and knowing you were now in a safe building all you wanted to do was get some sleep. Proper sleep, not short bursts interrupted by nightmares like you had been having in the car.

–

You don’t know how long it was later when you woke up on the floor, cuddled into Negan’s side. Looking around as best you could in the darkness you guessed that you were still in the same room as earlier, but this time you were laying on the carpeted floor, with Negan’s heavy jacket thrown over you both. A faint light was coming through the curtain-less window, and all you could hear was silence, save for the snores of the man laying fast asleep next to you.

Laying back down at his side, you looked him over for a minute or so, studying his sleeping face. You thought about waking him, to ask what Simon had said, to get an answer as to why you were sleeping on the floor in this tiny room, and not downstairs with the others. And then you remembered the nights not long back where your nightmares had come full force, and he had stayed up, smoothing your hair and comforting you until you could sleep again. You remembered the nights where he had had his own share of night terrors, even if he didn’t want to readily admit it the morning after. And you looked him over once more, sleeping peacefully, seemingly not a care in the entire world as he lay there.

And so you decided to let him sleep, kissing his cheek as soft as you could before nuzzling your way back into his side. Telling yourself that you would get answers first thing in the morning, before whispering into his hair-covered neck.

_“Goodnight daddy”_


	22. Worry Lines

The knock against the door vibrated through the small room, pulling you quickly from your sleep. You pulled your arms through the heavy black leather that had been your makeshift blanket, as the cold morning air made a shiver run up your back. You saw Negan crossing the room to open the doorway, and you realised that at some point this morning, or last night, he had moved from your sleeping spot on the floor, leaving your head resting against one of your bags.

You heard a voice you recognised almost instantly as the man who had spoken to you both last night, the one who had said he was in charge of this place. Simon. His uncomfortably chirpy voice filled the room as he entered slightly, yet he continued to hover around the doorway, not quite coming all the way in.

‘Good morning to you both! Hope y’all had a good night of sleeping, thought I could introduce you ‘round to the rest of the group this morning. See how you fit in…’

You noticed how he looked at Negan at the end of his short speech, looking for his approval of his suggested itinerary. At the slightest nod from the other man he spoke again, still as chirpy as when he came in.

‘Alrighty then, I’ll let you folks get ready, gather yourselves, we’ll be downstairs in the main hall when you’re sorted. Just down the stairs and to the left”. 

Before he could turn to leave, Negan spoke, although he made no notion of moving, his hand still resting on the wall next to the doorframe.

‘How’s the girl? The one we picked up?’

It was a moment before Simon replied. The uncomfortable silence made you think the worst had happened, that another survivor had been lost, and then he spoke, his voice now void of the cheeriness from a moment ago.

‘She’s lost a lot of blood, but the nurse says she’s stable, says that if we can keep the area clean then she’s got a good chance’

A nod was the only reply that came from Negan. He didn’t say a word as he reached for the open door, a sign that Simon took to mean the conversation was finished, as he hung his head low, nodding slightly, and walked out, leaving Negan to push the door shut behind him.

You stood then, brushing the dust and dirt from the old floor off your jeans. You looked up to see him staring over at you, his eyes dark and the skin around them even darker, he hadn’t moved from the doorway and you could feel that something was off. Swallowing the lump in your throat you went over to him, wrapping your leather-clad arms around his waist, leaning your head on his chest. Neither of you spoke for a few moments, but then as his nose nudged the top of your head, you heard a sigh escape him. Squeezing around him tighter you spoke, your voice quiet even in the silence of the room.

“Daddy, um, are you okay?”

There was no reply for a few seconds, until you felt him move, his lips kissing over the top of your hair, his hand coming up to hold the back of your head to his chest. After another couple of seconds you heard his voice, a deep and grainy whisper against your hair.

“Just don’t want you hurt”

Despite the numerous things running through your mind, as you moved your head to look up at him, you couldn’t think of a single thing to say. So instead you pushed yourself up onto your toes, hands gripping onto the front of his shirt, as you pressed a worried kiss to his lips. It took a second or two for him to respond, but then his hand moved down your side to grip onto your waist, pulling you in even closer to him. Your own hand slid up to his neck, scratching through the hair that was growing there, now an inch or so long, longer than you had ever seen him with before. As his other hand slid under you’re the jacket to squeeze over your denim-clad ass, you couldn’t help the breathy moan that escaped your mouth. With a hand either side of his head, you pulled his mouth away from where it was currently leaving a trail of hot kisses down the side of your jaw. Pulling him up so his face was in front of yours, and placing a light kiss against his nose, you attempted the best smile you could as you spoke, the worry from just minutes ago fading fast.

“I’ll be fine. I have you”

Your lips cracked into a smile then, a genuine smile this time, which only grew bigger when you saw the worry flood out of the man in front of you. His hand reached up to cup your cheek, a smile on his face as he brought your forehead in for a kiss. He whispered to you then, quiet enough for nobody but you to hear, but the intensity in his voice making sure you knew he was serious.

“Baby if you feel uncomfortable I need you to tell me okay? If you think somethings off with these fucks I need to know alright? I’d rather we were alone than with a bunch of crazy fucknuts, understand?”

Giggling slightly at his words you nodded, knowing full well that if you were unhappy being around these people Negan would get you out of there, straight away. No matter what. Your giggle was met with one of his own, as he took hold of your hand, wrapping his fingers tightly around yours.

“Come on then princess, let’s go meet these fuckers”


	23. New Encounters

Twenty-two. Twenty-two people were currently in front of you, each one of them eyeing you both up, deciding if you seemed like a threat to their currently safe place.

The nerves had hit you like a truck as you came down the stairs, Negan in front, his hand still entwined with yours. But that was nothing compared to right now.

It wasn’t what you were expecting. There were people of all ages hiding out here, all wearing the same confused and tired expression, all watching the two newcomers with hopeful eyes. You let out a short gasp when your eyes landed on a family, one of the three families in the room, that were sat in the far corner. The father was in front, ready you guessed in case the newest guests turned out to be something other than friendly. The mother was on the floor, both of them in their thirties, her arms wrapped as best she could around her two scared children. You locked eyes with the daughter, who couldn’t have been no more than five, yet the confusion and fear surrounding her made her seem older. Your eyes started to water as your gazes met, the nerves turning themselves into another feeling, one you didn’t really understand or know of yet.

You recognised the man to the left of Simon as the one that you and Negan had picked up just two nights ago. He stood there, eyeing both you and Negan, seemingly listening to what Simon was saying as he leant against the painted wall behind him. As he felt your eyes on him he nodded slightly, not enough for anyone but you to notice, before bowing his head, his hands crossed in front of him. You noticed the lack of his wife in the room, and you wondered just how badly she was hurt, Simon said she’d be fine, didn’t he? The man stood next to him was older, early fifties you guessed, his long hair greying and scraggly, his white skin wrinkling and the grey t-shirt under his leather waistcoat dirty and fraying. Your gaze shifted to the gun strapped to his waist, and you felt your gut begin to fill with nerves again, just as a sound echoed next to you, and you looked to see Simon, his hands clapped together in front of him, a smile on his face, looking to you both for confirmation.

You saw Negan nod, and as Simon began walking forward, you were pulled along in tow. Dwight and the man in the leather vest followed too, as well as two other men. The room was silent as you all walked through the middle of the room, towards the door on the back wall. That’s when Simon stopped, turned to you both with his hand still on the doorknob, and eyed you momentarily before turning to Negan. His eyebrows rose as he spoke, his low voice loud in the tension of the room.

“I think it’s best if she waits out here, right buddy?”

You felt Negan’s hand tighten around yours in response. You saw the tick of his jaw, a small tell-tale sign of his anger, and you squeezed back in response. This was not the time or place to make a scene, not a scene that could mean you both getting kicked out, the both of you being alone out there in the damn apocalypse. You knew you couldn’t let that happen, but you knew Negan, and you knew there was no way he would agree to such a suggestion, so you spoke, as best you could without your voice shaking. Doing your best to hide the anxiety racking your body.

“It’s okay,” both men whipped their heads to you at the sound of your voice, apparently neither one expecting you to answer the question, “I’ll wait here, it’s okay”. You nodded, more to yourself than to either of them, squeezing Negan’s hand once more before letting go.

“Well then, guess that’s that!” Simon spoke, in that almost too cheery tone, “Amy, look after our new guest yeah?”

With that a young girl took a few steps towards you. She couldn’t have been much older than you, a thick winter coat hung from her shoulders, a woolly hat clinging to her head. A small smile was painted across her face as she took you in, seemingly happy with her new job.

“Right, well, after you Negan” spoke Simon again, the door ajar now slightly. His hand was gesturing Negan into the room, the other holding onto his tattered belt. One reluctant nod to you from Negan and he turned, walking through the doorway, followed almost immediately by the other men, then finally Simon. The door shut behind him, and the tension in the room seemed to disappear along with the small group of men.

Turning your attention back to the girl next to you, you gave her the best smile you could. Within seconds you were joined by a young man, also in his twenties, and you figured they must know each other well by the comfortable body language between them. He was shorter than she was, just a few inches, his ginger hair was cut short and his freckled skin contrasted sharply with the clear dark skin of the girl he was currently leaning on. She pulled her coat around her tighter, somewhat obnoxiously chewing on what you assumed was bubblegum, before holding her hand out towards you. 

“I’m Amy, this is Cal”


	24. New Problems

“Can you please tell me what he said?” 

You were stood in front of the window of what had apparently become your bedroom. Simon was eager for you both to stay downstairs in the main hall, he said that’s where everyone slept, all together in the one room. ‘There’s more safety in numbers’ he had said, but he hadn’t been able to convince Negan of it. And eventually Simon had given in, realising that he wasn’t about to change his mind, and agreed that you could both stay in the room upstairs, where you had stayed last night. 

The sun had all but disappeared now, just a faint glow of orange peeking from over the houses opposite. You hadn’t been able to see much when you had first got here, everything had been shrouded in the darkness and dingy car headlights, but now as you looked out, unable to recognise your surroundings, you were able to get a sense of how far you had travelled since leaving Negan’s house. You could see the car still parked just inside the entrance, the heavy gate just behind it, a mass of chains wrapped around the bars. The streets beyond the gate were silent, and an eerie shudder run up your spine as the opposite flashed in your mind – the streets crammed full of those things, the metal gate being the only thing keeping them out. 

“Princess”, Negan’s voice calling made your head turn, distracting you from your daydream, “come over here a sec”. You turned back to the window, subconsciously checking that it was just in your head, before you made your way over to him. 

He was still in the chair by the desk, not having moved from when he had slumped himself down when you had come in earlier. His head was still resting back onto the chair, his eyes still closed, as his hand moved slightly to pat his denim-clad thigh. Shuffling yourself into a more comfortable position on his lap, your temple now against his shoulder, waiting for him to speak. His arm came around you then, his hands interlocking over your hip, as his eyes opened, and he sighed tiredly before his eyes met yours. 

“We can’t stay here” 

You blinked, unable to speak. The words hadn’t fully sunk in when he continued. 

“Simon, took me outside ‘cause the others don’t know yet, but their running low on food, water, everything. He says they’ve got two, maybe three more days before this place is running on empty.” It’s quiet then, for a few minutes neither of you really know what to say, before he speaks again. “What did that girl say to you? Amy was it? Was she alright?” 

You nod against his shoulder, knowing that he’s trying to distract you from what Simon had said. But you give in, telling him all the details of your new-found friendships. You told him how Amy had known Cal before this had started, they had both been in school together, and how they were waking up from a drunken night out when they realised something was horribly wrong with the world outside. They had been driving around helpless when Simon had eventually found them, and they had been here since. You felt him laugh lightly underneath you when you told him how Cal’s sassy humour and Amy’s seemingly lack of worry had made you feel fairly comfortable this afternoon, despite you being alone in a room full of panic-struck strangers. 

“So you’re okay baby? No one gave you any shit when I was gone?” 

You went quiet then, and you knew he had felt your body stiffen. His face flashed through your mind, but you knew that if you told Negan what had happened he’d take it to the extreme. You didn’t want to get anyone hurt over what might have been just a misunderstanding, but when his arms tightened around you, his hands pushing you closer into him and a soft kiss landing on your forehead, you knew you weren’t leaving this room until you had told him. So, in the quietest voice you could manage you spoke, trying your hardest to be persuasive. 

“I- it was nothing, really” 

A grin broke out on his face at your words, and he shifted so his lips were just short of touching your nose, before he spoke, his voice quiet and calm. 

“Are you lying to your Daddy, little princess?” 

Your breath caught in your throat, but before you could reach his lips he moved, and you shifted so your head was resting in the crook of his neck. You could feel his head lean onto yours, the thick hair covering his chin tickling your forehead. 

“It was nothing, really, and Amy sorted it anyways”. The uncertainty was clear in your voice, his cheek rubbed against your head again, and when he didn’t speak you knew he was waiting for more information. 

“I was sitting with Amy and Cal, and she went outside to get me some water, and me and Cal were talking and, and then this man came over and he- he” 

“Fuck did he do, baby?” 

“He just got real close to me and he was flirting and- and then he asked me if I wanted to, to, you know, and I said no and that I was with you and he, he said it didn’t matter and he wouldn’t tell anyone and”, you heard a growl rising in Negan’s throat, his arms tightening around you, “but then Amy came back and she told him to go away, and they argued a bit but then he went and…” 

“Did he touch you?” 

“No, no, Amy said he’s done it to all the girls here and she said he…” You didn’t get to finish your sentence as you were suddenly standing, Negan had jumped up from underneath you before he made his way across the room. You were still stood in front of the chair, not really knowing what to do for the best. You knew this would be his response - but what you hadn’t been expecting was him to go straight to the bat, the one that had been leaning against the wall since you had both got here, the one still stained with dry blood. You watched as he picked it up, twirling it around in his hand, a look of pure anger on his face, before he stalked over to the door. You knew where he was going, and what would inevitably happen when he found the man in question, so you took a deep breath before running out after him, praying you wouldn’t be seeing a repeat of the supermarket incident.


	25. Harsh Compromises

You caught up with him on the stairwell. Grabbing at the arm of his leather jacket you tried your hardest to get his attention, succeeding when he stopped and turned to face you. The anger was evident on his face; his thick brows were knotted together, the lines on his forehead more visible. Your mouth was open to speak, the words clear in your head, but then he spoke, his voice laced with irritation.

“Go back to our room. Now”. His hand came up to remove yours from his jacket, but before he could turn back around, you spoke up, your voice more confident than you thought it would be.

“Please, please don-“

“Everything alright here, folks?”

Negan’s head had whipped around instantly, and you mentally thanked Simon for the interruption. He was stood at the bottom of the stairwell, and from the light that was coming out of the open door next to him, you could see the mixture of confusion and worry painted across his face. Placing you hand over Negan’s chest, you pulled his face back to you with the other. Looking him in the eyes, you brought your faces close, before whispering as quietly as you could.

“We need somewhere to stay, and it’s safer in here than out there. So you can’t do anything stupid, right?”

His eyes closed, and when they opened again you could see the anger had faded. He knew you were right. But as he turned back to Simon, you felt your skin go cold again at his words.

“Simon, we need to have a word”

\- - - -

You were back in your room. You had decided to sit at the windowsill instead of being in the firing line, but you could hear their conversation clearly. Negan was sat across the desk from Simon. His too-calm demeanour contrasting greatly with Simon’s nervous posture. You heard Negan tell Simon what you had told him only an hour or so before, but Simon had just sat there in silence, not even trying to interrupt, until now.

“So what are you saying I should do?”

You couldn’t hide your interest now, and you watched as Negan leaned back in his chair, his head now leaning onto his hand.

“I’m saying do what you want. But if you don’t sort the fucker out, I will.”

Simon’s voice was quieter as he replied, “I’ll talk to him, just leave me do it. I’ll talk to him in the morning, first thing.”

The few minutes of silence made you think that it was over, that that was it. But then you saw Negan shake his head, only slightly at first, before he spoke again.

“No. No, you speak to him now, tonight. And I’m gonna watch you do it.”

\- - - -

You weren’t sure how long they had been gone for. Simon had reluctantly agreed to Negan’s demands, and not long after they had both left. You had stayed in your room, claiming that they didn’t need you there, but you knew inside that you were worried. He had taken the bat with him, and you were worried and frightened that Negan’s anger would result in the two of you getting kicked out. So you were sat on the floor, leaning against the wall with the door set ajar, listening for the sounds of arguing, fighting, or whatever was happening downstairs.

Then you heard movement. A door slamming shut, murmurs talking, before you heard the sound of heavy boots coming up the stairs. Hearing them getting closer, you stood, your stomach full of butterflies at the thought of what might walk through the door. Willing yourself to look at the man who had just stepped through the doorway, you sighed when you saw that he was as clean as when he had left – no signs of fighting, and definitely no blood dripping from the bat. Breathing out another sigh of relief, you rushed to him, wrapping your arms around his waist. You heard the door close, the sound of the wooden bat hitting the floorboards, and then his arms were around you.

Pulling back slightly, you asked the question you had been dreading.

“What happened?”

“Nothing”

“Tell me, please?”

“We went to Simon’s room, he brought him in, we talked, that’s it.”

“What did you say?”

“That if I see him near one of you girls again then I’ll fucking kill him myself. I don’t give a shit what Simon thinks is right”

“So, we can still stay here?”

He kissed your forehead then, followed by a kiss to your nose. His arms squeezed around your shoulders, before he sighed tiredly.

“We can stay, but we need to get some sleep baby, alright?”

You nodded, relaxing against him, trying your best not to think about what he had told you earlier, before everything had kicked off.


	26. Sherry’s Warning

“… and then they just, those things, they just started coming from everywhere…”

“… we managed to make it out, and we just ran, but they were behind us, following us…”

“… I’ve never seen that many in the same place before…”

An eerie uncomfortable had silence filled the room. Dwight and a now-recovered Sherry were sat to the side – all eyes were on them as they told everyone what had happened the night they had gone missing. You were at the back of the room, leaning back into Negan as he stood behind you. Simon was stood to your left, and you could see the tension in the way he was stood – the material of his jacket was stretched across his back, his shoulders hunched forward, arms crossed. His attention was fixed on the couple’s story, as was everyone else’s.

“… we knew we had to hide, that we couldn’t outrun them, so we tried to get into the nearest house, that’s- that’s when Sherry got cut. There was broken glass all over the place, on the floor and the countertops, we were running, she tripped and- “

“… and that’s when I got this”. You watched as Sherry motioned to her leg, drawing attention to the fresh white bandage wrapped around her calf. You heard quiet gasps and murmurs from the people in front of you, this was the first time they had seen the couple since you and Negan had brought them back – Simon had decided that it was best if they took one of the separate rooms, to help Sherry recover faster. The room fell silent again, before Dwight began to continue their story. .

”We managed to make it upstairs. The house was empty so we hid out in the bedroom, I tied her leg up with some material I found, but, but I knew…”

“… we knew were stuck, that it wasn’t going to end well…”

“…there were too many of them outside. We were just stuck in that house. I, I thought that was going to be it- the end, ya know…”

You felt Negan shift slightly behind you when Sherry’s hand reached over to hold her husbands. Dwight was visibly shaken by what had happened to them both, and you couldn’t help but realise how lucky your experience had been – spending the first week boarded up at home, with Negan, safe from the horrors outside. Before you could get too far into your thoughts, Simon moved from next to you, making his way around the side of the crowd, coming to a stop just next to Dwight. All eyes were on him now, the tension raising in preparation for what he was about to say. He let out a sigh, before he spoke, the most unconfident you had ever heard him.

“Right, everyone listen up, I’m only going to say this the once and I don’t want anyone to panic. Panic will not help us”

You watched as Simon took a breath, before wringing his hands nervously in front of him. In that moment you knew what he was about to say. He was about to tell everyone what Negan had told you last night, that the food supply was running desperately low, and the gates outside were only going to last for a short while longer. He looked up before he continued, and you saw him look towards Negan before he spoke.

“I told you all we were safe here. I told all of you that this was a safe place. And it still is! But there’s an issue, a problem, and I can’t hide it from you all any longer.” Simon held his head low as he continued, “we are running out of food. Our supply will last maybe a few more days but after that… after that we’re out. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you all sooner.”

The crowd was quiet for a few minutes. Then it started, the panic, the murmurs, the questions. Hands went up across the room, people spoke over each other, the calm atmosphere was now gone completely. Simon was still at the front, his head still facing the floor. The order and control he had shown since you had arrived here had disappeared right in front of your eyes. Then you felt Negan move behind you, his lips pressed against your temple before he stood up straighter, and then he spoke, and despite sounding calm and relaxed, his voice was clear over the muffled noise of the room.

“We do have one option”

All eyes turned in your direction instantly. Silence fell throughout the large room once again. It was obvious, as you glanced around the crowd in front of you, that these people were scared. Simon was looking to Negan now, his face full of hope for the future of the group. One of the men near him, a tall boy with a gun over his shoulder, spoke for everyone there when he shouted back.

“What’s that?”

“We leave. Just a group of us, some volunteers, the best men we got. We go out there, find all the shit we can and bring it back home for the rest of us. Problem solved.”

This time a woman spoke up, the one you had seen with the children when you had first been introduced to everyone.

“You really think it’s a good idea for us to leave this place? After we just heard what happened to Sherry?”

“Look I know it’s dangerous, but if we stay here then we’re sitting ducks. We need to work something out.”

Simon interrupted then, with more strength in his voice than he had earlier.

“Well, I think maybe we should leave it here for tonight. We can all try to get some rest, think things over, and then we can discuss our next move in the morning with clear thoughts… Are we all agreed?”

A blurred number of yes’s sounded around the room. And when you felt Negan’s hand on your waist, leading you gently to the door, you let out a breath that you hadn’t even realised you had been holding. _You were safe,_ you reminded yourself, _for now._


	27. Rough Night

_**Thump** _

_**Thump** _

_**Thump** _

Your eyes shot open as the sound replayed in your mind. The banging from the first morning this had all started, the thumping on the front door, you could still hear it. Most nights since you had awoken half way through, jolting upright, sweat-soaked and breathing heavily. It wasn’t that bad now, now it just woke you up with a jump, your panic and fear disappearing as soon as you recognised the small room you were staying in. Pulling the scratchy blanket back up over your shoulders and smoothing out your messed-up hair, you laid your head back onto Negan’s shoulder. Your eyes stayed open, watching as the moonlight shone in from the bare window. The man underneath you shifted slightly, his arm coming over to comfort yours, pulling you in closer under the blankets. A lazy kiss was pressed to your head as he drawled out, his voice rough and full of sleep.

“Everything alright doll?”

You nodded against him, nuzzling yourself in closer and taking comfort from his warmth.

“Just, the nightmares again”. Your voice was so quiet for a moment you doubted he had heard you. But then he replied, his hand squeezing over your arm to comfort you as he did.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Not really, it’s, it’s just the banging again, the noises”

His arms came around you tighter, dragging you over onto him. Your head nuzzled into chest, as his hand took hold of yours, his thumb rubbing small circles over your skin.

“I know it doesn’t seem like it, I know that this place isn’t great – I mean we’re sleeping on the fucking floor baby – but you’re safe alright? No matter what’s going on out there, no matter where we are, you’re safe ‘cause you’re with me. Daddy’s gotta protect his baby, right?”

When you didn’t answer him instantly, you felt his chin nudging your head up, the long hairs now covering his jaw scratching gently at your skin. His lips found your forehead then, before he questioned you again, his voice more assertive than before.

“ _Right?_ ”

You nodded this time, before nuzzling back down onto his shoulder. A smile grew on your face as you felt his hands moving down your waist, sliding over the top of your jeans, before stopping right over your ass. A groan vibrated through his chest before he spoke, but this time all seriousness was gone, and you didn’t need to look to know he was smiling.

“God-fucking-damn I wish we had a bed, like a real nice big comfy fucking bed. Fucking sleeping on the floor is fucking killing me. Know when we get outta here, gonna get us a fucking bed. Nice one with silk sheets, nice soft pillows so we can fu-“

His body shot up at the interrupting sound, taking you along with him as you clutched to his neck. You felt him tense against you as his head turned to the window, his heartbeat beginning to quicken under your hand. It was silent for a few moments, then it happened again.

_**Thump** _

_**Thump** _

_**Thump** _

Your eyes grew wide as you realised what was happening. The banging you had heard earlier, it wasn’t from your nightmares.

_**Thump** _

_**Thump** _

“You get our bag, and you stay behind me, got it?”

Your voice was weak as you replied. Within moments both you and Negan were standing, you going to the bag you had both brought with you, the last of your belongings, while he went to the window. Shrugging the strap of it over your shoulder, you made your way back over to him. You could tell from the way he was stood that it wasn’t good, and your heart beat faster the closer you got to the window. Taking a deep breath you readied yourself to take a look.

There were twenty, maybe thirty of them. Wandering aimlessly around the church’s parking lot, circling the cars and lifelessly banging into them. You couldn’t tear your eyes away from the scene before you, the chill in your spine spreading through your veins.

“Fuck!”

The outburst from the man standing next to you made you jump slightly. You turned to see his hand running through his beard, he was focused entirely on what was happening outside, and you knew he was trying to come up with an escape plan.

“We gotta get out of here baby”, was all you heard before he had your hand in his and you were being rushed out the door.

You were half way down the staircase when a loud crash sounded through the building. Negan stopped in front of you, your hand was clutched to his belt, the darkness not helping the situation one bit. A moment passed before one of the doors opened with a thud, and a confused and half asleep Simon appeared from around the corner. He turned to you both, before another crashing noise came from the main hall.

“The gates have collapsed, we gotta get everyone out”, was all Negan said, before Simon disappeared again, coming back out a second later with a gun and a backpack strapped to him.

“The cars are surrounded, is there a back way to this place?”

“Yeah, yeah, through my room and-“

“So I get everyone out and you take them out the back, got it?”

Your hand clutched tighter onto him at his words. Your hands were shaking, your mind going crazy at the thought of leaving him here, what if something happened to him? What if he didn’t make it out?

He turned to you then, taking a hold of your chin before pressing a rushed kiss to your nose, “You’re gonna go with Simon baby alright, your gonna go with everyone, and when everyone’s out I’ll come get you okay?”

You were about to argue, about to tell him how much you hated this idea, but the look on his face told you there was no changing his mind. Your eyes welled up as you tried to nod, another kiss was pressed to your forehead before he spoke.

“I love you, baby”, was the last thing you heard before he went, opening the door to the main hall, and whatever laid behind it. You didn’t have time to dwell though before Simon had hold of your forearm, pushing you into the room he had just come out of with an order to stay put.


	28. The Factory

You felt like your whole body was broken as you stood there unable to move. Your arms were wrapped around your waist, your hands shaking as you gripped onto the sides of your coat. You don’t know how long you were stood there, it felt like hours, standing in the parking lot of the church, waiting. Amy had sensed your thoughts, your fears, and her arm was around your waist, trying her best to comfort you even though you both knew it wasn’t enough. You could hear them talking, the people surrounding you in the small space, but your eyes were locked on the doors.

The dead had brought the fence down quicker than both Simon and Negan had thought they would. The front entrance to the church and the cars that had brought you, and the rest of the group, here were now crawling with them. They had managed to break open the downstairs windows, falling in piles through the shards of glass. That’s what you had heard, from the cries of those who had witnessed it. 

The doors burst open then, and every bone in your body froze in hope. Only to be let down when Simon came through, pulling a young family along behind him, pointing over to where the remains of your group had gathered at the end of the lot. They were running towards you then, the mother white in the face with fright, the small girl gripping hold of her father. Tears leaked from your eyes at the sight, and you reached up with a shaking hand to wipe them. Amy hugged you in closer then, telling you what she thought you wanted to hear.

Two more men came out; a woman clutching hold of an elderly woman; a young boy - but no Negan. 

A few minutes passed. Your tears were flowing faster now, sobs left your mouth involuntarily as you watched the doors stay closed. You felt Amy’s glove-covered hand on the side of your head, pulling you into her, holding you to her shoulder in an attempt to calm you.

Minutes passed, you weren’t sure how long, before the loud bang of the doors being slammed open pulled your head up. Seconds passed before Simon came out, gun in hand and clearly shaken up. His eyes met yours and even with the distance in between you, you knew what it meant.

Your legs gave out from under you, and if it wasn’t for Amy’s grip on your waist you would have landed on the floor for sure. Your mouth was open but nothing came out, not a sob, not a scream, just gasps for air. You could feel the wetness on your cheeks, and you were vaguely aware of both Amy and Cal trying to hold you up.

Simon was closer then, his face was white save for the spots of blood, his breathing laboured as he stood there, searching for what to say. His mouth opened, your heart was breaking even more just from the scared look in his eyes, but before he could speak a loud crash sounded from behind him, causing everyone to turn to look.

The doors were open, the eerie sound of silence spilling out from inside. But nothing came out.

A minute passed. And then another. Before an unmistakable figure came stumbling out of the darkness. You were frozen to the spot, along with everyone else. His boots were soaked with fresh blood, his trousers stained, blood and sweat was mixed into his hair, dripping down onto his face. The bat hung lazily to his side, soaked red and dripping onto the floor below.

Then he looked up, his eyes meeting yours instantly. You didn’t think twice as you pushed Simon out of the way, running as fast as you could. The wooden bat clanged as it hit the floor, his arms enveloping you instantly, squeezing you to him despite the blood. His nose buried itself in your hair, breathing in deeply before his lips pressed onto your forehead. His hand came up then, his fingers on your jaw as his thumb wiped over your tears. For the first time that morning your lips spread into a smile. He brought his face closer to yours, your noses touching now as he grinned, squeezing you closer to him as he whispered to you.

“I told you I wouldn’t leave my baby”

————————

You were walking. The sun had risen not long after you had left the parking lot of the church, and you knew it had been a few hours. A thin veil of sweat covered your skin, and the bottom of your feet were beginning to hurt. Negan had taken the bag from you before you had left, strapping it over his shoulder without a problem. His hand was clutched around yours, your other hand holding the top of the blood-stained bat.

No-one in the group knew where you were heading. You were just looking for safety, somewhere to stay before it went dark again. The church was gone, overrun with the dead. Most of the group had managed to get out unscathed, save for two men who Simon had deemed ‘missing’ – none of you argued with his decision, even though you all knew what their fate had been.

The path was beginning to give way then, widening from the dirt road you had been following into a road. You followed it, the trees evening out slightly as you went further on, before a chimney began to peak out over the treetops in the distance.

You heard murmurs coming from behind you as the rest of the group began to notice the building too. It was the first building you had seen for the last hour or so, and it was like a new wave of optimism ran through you all, a new push forward, as you doubled your efforts to get there.

Moments later you were rounding the corner, the road spreading out into the entrance of the huge building. The car park was twice the size of the church lot, empty, and surrounded by a tall metal fence. Glass windows covered most of the building, steps ran up the outside, and you figured it must have been some sort of warehouse or factory before the world had changed.

You felt Negan’s hand squeeze around yours, and you could feel the smile pulling at your lips. Simon came walking over to you then, coming to a stop next to Negan. Both men were staring ahead at the building, looking over the details, and no doubt assessing the safety of the place. Simon spoke then, and despite all that had happened this morning, you were sure you heard the optimism in his voice.

“You think we should take a look first? Make sure it’s empty?”


	29. Baby’s Daddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut. Not a lot of plot. Huge daddy kink.

The feeling of soft, barely-there kisses against your neck brought you slowly out of your sleep. You smiled to yourself, your mind still in your sleepy haze, making no effort to move.

More kisses were pressed to your skin, and the scratch caused by the hair on his chin and jaw made a shiver run through your spine. A strong hand gripped hold of your side then, before sliding around to your front. Rough fingertips smoothed over your skin, coming to a stop over your chest before you were being pushed back, your bare back colliding with his front. His arms came around you then, trapping you in place as his mouth went back to your neck.

“Daddy’s fucking got you now, little doll”, he drawled out, his voice thick with sleep and maddeningly deep. “Gonna do all sorts of nasty, dirty fucking things to you”

You couldn’t help but giggle at his words, when you were suddenly flipped over onto your back, his face looming just inches over yours. His voice was mocking, full of the cheekiness that you loved as he spoke.

“Oh you think Daddy’s joking, Princess?”

His question did nothing to stop your giggles, and another round hit you as his lips found the top of your chest, his tongue sliding over your collarbone. A soft moan escaped your lips at the feeling, and you wriggled your hips involuntarily. You knew of course, that he knew exactly what he was doing. Your fingers ran through his hair as his lips left small wet kisses over the tops of your breasts. Curling his hair in your fingers you tried pushing his head further down, closer to where you wanted him – where you needed him. You felt his lips turn up into a grin as he gave in, but much to your annoyance, skipping over your breasts altogether, instead covering your stomach in sloppy wet kisses.

You moaned again, more in need than pleasure, bucking your hips up in the hopes that he would get the message. He paused then, looking up at you, his chin still touching the soft skin of your abdomen, his eyes serious and you knew what he wanted.

“Daddy’s gotta hear you say it-“

_“Please, daddy”_

He grinned then, and before you knew it, he was back behind you, his arms around you as your back was pressed against him once again. His mouth was back on your skin, sloppy wet kisses covering your neck, before you felt his tongue cover your small, hard nipple. His one arm was underneath you, his hand pressed flat to your stomach, holding you in place. You moaned out, trying your hardest to move your hips, searching for some friction. A deep, lazy laugh filled your ear in response to your mewling, before he spoke, the smile still on his lips as he did so.

“Patience princess. I gotta get you ready first, baby, alright?”

You groaned in annoyance at his words, growing more and more impatient by the second. Your fingers gripped onto his, pushing the hand that was on your hip down further.

“Needy little thing this morning aren’t ya? Fucking pushing daddy’s hand into your panties like a  _dirty lil’ kitten”_

His smile was obvious in his voice, and you felt his teeth scrape over the sensitive spot on your neck as his rough fingertips delved under the top of your underwear. A gasp left your mouth as his fingertip, feather-light, ran through your folds. A second finger joined, dipping ever so lightly into your entrance, before spreading your wetness over you, circling your clit lightly before repeating the movement.

_“Daddy”,_ you moaned, your hand moving down to his wrist, gripping at the tanned skin, “need more daddy, _please_ ”

A gasp fell from your lips as you felt both of his now-soaked fingers enter you, gently at first, and somewhere in the back of your mind you knew he was nervous about hurting you. It had been a while, maybe months, since you two had been able to spend time together. Last night was the first time you had both slept on a real, actual bed since the world had collapsed, and despite the flirty promises you had been told all evening, you were both asleep as soon as you hit the pillows. 

A deep, almost growl came from his chest, and your hips bucked involuntarily against his fingers in response. His voice was quiet as he spoke, the rough edge letting you know how much this was affecting him too.

“So fucking _tight_ baby. Fuck, you’re so fucking perfect _, you think daddy can still fit baby?”_ Your head was nodding against the pillow before you even registered his words. Your moans were turning into breathy pants as his fingers got faster, rubbing perfectly against your sweet spot. Your head flung back onto his shoulder when you felt the rough pad of his thumb begin rubbing fast and sloppy circles on your clit, and you were barely aware of your fingernails digging into his forearm. You could feel your legs start to tingle, the burning sensation starting to spread as your hips bucked roughly against him. 

_“Daddy please don’t stop, please don’t stop”,_ you begged, your orgasm getting closer every second.

“You gonna come for me, princess?” You just about managed to answer, and you felt your climax hit when you heard his needy promise, “you’re gonna come on daddy’s fingers baby, nice and fucking wet, and then you can come on daddy’s cock like a good little kitten”

Your eyes squeezed themselves shut, your mouth hung open, but no sound came out. You were barely aware of how long your orgasm lasted, the intensity of it increased by your bout of involuntary celibacy. The sinfully deep groan from the man now on top of you brought you down ever-so-slightly to Earth again, and when you finally managed to open your eyes again, the dark, dangerous look on his face told you you were in trouble. His lips pressed roughly against yours, his hand holding the side of your neck to keep you in place. You moaned into his mouth before his kisses made their way down your neck, down the middle of your breasts, before he licked a circle around your navel. The atmosphere had changed, all sense of being slow and cautious was gone as he stood to rid himself of his shorts. A second later he was back on top of you, his mouth wrapped around your nipple again, and you gasped when you felt his length press against you. You reached down between you both, managing to gain hold and guiding him to your entrance. Then you froze, the cheery knock on the wooden door instantly ruining the mood. Negan’s head fell onto your chest, an annoyed groan coming from him as the knocking sounded again. You tried to push him up, pushing him to answer the door, but he wasn’t budging, infuriatingly annoyed that you had been interrupted.

“They can fucking go away,” he groaned, making you laugh at how fast he had turned into a stroppy teenager. The knock came again, the same cheery rhythm, and you pushed him up, harder this time. He stood at the foot of the bed, picking up the blanket that had been kicked to the floor, throwing it over you, making sure you were covered before he turned to walk to the door. You called after him when you realised that he had walked past his boxers which lay on the floor, and was now about to answer the door as naked as he could be, an annoyed scowl painted across his face. Your cheeks flushed red when you realised that whoever was on the other side of the door would instantly know what you were both up to, and you brought the blanket up further, covering your face as he reached out to turn the doorknob. You heard the soft click of the door opening, before Negan spoke, sounding thoroughly pissed off at the interruption. 

“This had better be fucking good.”

It was a few seconds later that the interrupter replied, and as soon as you heard her voice your blood began to boil. _Sherry_.

“Um, I uh, Simon asked me to come get you, he, he said they’re ready to go when you are. But, but I can tell him to wait if you need.” 

You knew Negan didn’t care about her, you knew he wouldn’t try anything with another woman, but you couldn’t say the same for her. You had seen the way she would glance at him, even when her husband was standing right next to her, and now the thought of her face to face with him, naked, the anger rose in you as your fists clenched shut. You were seconds away from throwing the blanket off, storming over to them, causing a scene and telling her exactly what you thought of her flirting - and you knew you would have done just that - if it wasn’t for the loud crash of the door slamming shut in her face without a reply, followed by a loud announcement to kindly ‘ _fuck off’_ by Negan as he stalked his way back over to you.

 


End file.
